


Better Be a Pirate!

by EvenescentTranquility



Category: One Piece
Genre: Ace Lives, F/F, F/M, Fem!Luffy, Female Monkey D. Luffy, Fix-It, Gen, I Blame Tumblr, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Preview turned actual story, Time Travel, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-10-23 07:30:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 29,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10714983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvenescentTranquility/pseuds/EvenescentTranquility
Summary: A more dutiful female Luffy, Monkey D. Ruby was the crown jewel of the Navy. That is until a few years after the execution of Portgas D. Ace when the Revolutionaries started making their move and the entirety of the Navy turned against her as Akainu proclaimed her own heritage for the world to hear. She died, vowing revenge, and for the first time ever a D died without smiling, and the fabric of reality warped, leaving a five year old Ruby alive again with a decision to make, this time Better Be a Pirate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So here it is, the full chapter of the preview I posted on Tumblr! :)

Monkey D. Ruby stared down at her small, unblemished hands, studying the lightly tanned skin, lined palms, blunt fingernails, and whorl fingertips. They were definitely hers, she’d checked several times, and they were familiar, and yet at the same time so unfamiliar and alien that she kept glancing down, double-checking they were attached to her.

Gone were the familiar calluses on her knuckles, fingers and palms, gone were the scars from numerous battles, accidents and paper cuts, gone were the long slender fingers of adulthood leaving pudgy baby hands in their wake.

Slowly running her hands through her hair and over her face she noted her hair was much longer than she remembered, having cut it short after joining the Navy to help her fit in better, and tied up in two pig tails, a style she hadn’t worn since she was very young. The scar on her face from trying to prove her strength to Akagami no Shanks was still there, but fresh still with bandages on it. Worse if she wasn’t mistaken her height, which had never been impressive to begin with, had been drastically reduced. 

The conclusion to all this? She was a child again. How though she didn’t know, she would’ve thought she’d had another run in with Jewelry Bonney if she hadn’t brought her to justice herself over six months ago. Besides she would’ve remembered that, and her last memories were of staring out over Marineford, idly wondering if this was what Portgas D. Ace had seen before he died.

However Ace at least had, had people who loved him enough to come for him, to attempt his rescue despite overwhelming odds. She hadn’t actually participated in that battle, except to try to take out Blackbeard and his crew when the traitorous man showed his face. She’d known making him Schichibuki was a mistake, once a traitor, always a traitor, not that anyone had bothered listening to her opinion despite her place as commodore.

She had been alone at her execution, looking out on all those faces, of people she’d worked with, of lives she’d saved, of subordinates and superiors and even a former lover or two and not one had raised a finger to stop her from being executed. Not a single one. The only person who might’ve had been sent away and distracted, Garp probably didn’t even know her execution was happening and by the time he found out it would be too late.

The blades had come down and she had sworn, somehow, someway, they would all pay, and for a moment the world had been pain, and just as darkness was coming for her something had shifted. Even now she could’ve sworn she heard someone say _“A D. without a smile? Now this won’t do.”_ And the next thing she’d known she’d been staring at her unfamiliar/familiar hands.

Hesitantly glancing around she realized she recognized the room as one Makino had let her have over the bar, many, many years ago before Garp had taken her away to be a marine. Quietly she snuck her way out of the room and to the bathroom down the hall, taking note of the loud noises coming from downstairs, but ignoring them for now, slipping into the bathroom and stepping up on to the familiar stool.

She stared wide-eyed at her reflection, taking in the soft babyish features still rounded with childhood, and the bandage on her cheek. It was one thing to suspect after all and another thing to see. She was very obviously seven years old again and if she was right, she was in Party’s Bar in Fuusha, with the noise downstairs being Shanks and his crew. 

Her brow furrowed in confusion. She wasn’t sure what she thought would happen after death, not having really sat down to ponder it out before, preferring to live in the moment, but being shrunk down to seven again wasn’t it. The thinking was starting to give her a headache, something she thought she’d grown out of. Back when she was actually this age she’d thought thinking had hurt too much and decided not to bother with it, instead living on instinct. A few months in the Navy where politics flourished above all else, and not thinking meant chores or other punishment work had eventually pounded that line of thinking out of her head (well that and Garp’s fist of love).

However despite the fact that she had eventually become an excellent if somewhat instinctive strategist, this situation was so surreal it was boggling her mind. Unless she’d actually gotten to heaven and was reliving happy childhood memories? She tilted her head to the side, pursing her lips, trying to work past the pain in her head and reason it out, unaware of the adorable picture she made until a familiar voice piped up behind her.

“Kawaii!” Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin, having been so deep in thought that she’d forgotten to keep an eye on her surroundings with observation haki, another lesson that had been learned from Garp (for her own safety, surprise Fist of Love attacks were the worst!).

She jumped and whirled around, the only thing preventing her attack was the fact that her arms no longer stretched the way they used to. She was immensely grateful for that though as she saw who had surprised her. Makino was standing in the doorway holding back giggles, her eyes dancing with mirth. Ruby was sure she looked completely ridiculous having just basically jumped and attempted to attack the air in Makino’s eyes.

“Does this mean you’re done pouting about Shanks not letting you join them Ruby-chan? If so we should get you some food now,” Makino told her gently, stepping into the bathroom and ruffling her hair, “I still can’t believe you stabbed yourself in the face Ru! Now you’re going to have a scar on that adorable little face! You’ll scare all the boys away.”

Ruby listened to Makino’s chatter with a feeling of nostalgia as she let herself be led by the hand down towards the bar where she knew a nice home cooked dinner would be waiting for her. If this was heaven then she didn’t mind, reliving these happy memories, that wouldn’t be so bad right?

“What do you say to that huh Ru-chan?” Makino prompted, her gentle voice having taken on a scolding tone as Ruby clambered on to the bar stool next to Shanks unable to help the goofy smile on her face at seeing her childhood idol again.

Distracted by the presence of Shanks and his crew, a group she hadn’t seen for years, it took her a moment to realize Makino was waiting for an answer. She thought about what she’d been asked and scoffed, “Any boy who’s put off by something as superficial as a small scar on my face was probably a stupid, rude, bastard anyway.”

The pirates who had been listening in on the conversations had several spit takes as they burst out laughing, with many shouting out their agreements to her. Makino on the other hand had a scandalized look on her face that immediately alerted Ruby to the fact that she was about to be in trouble.

“Ru-chan where did you learn such uncouth language?” Makino asked appalled.

Another hard-learned lesson from the Navy and her gramps, was when to fight and when to retreat, or in this case when to throw someone else under the bus. She immediately pointed at the pirate captain sitting next to her, adopting her most innocent expression.

The comically betrayed look on his face as Makino lit into him about appropriate behavior around little girls made it hard to keep a straight face but she bit her lip and soldiered on. The two of them were actually pretty darn cute together, and she wondered why she’d never seen it before. Giggling to herself, she smiled feeling happy for the first time in a long time. 

She almost frowned at that thought, she had been happy in the navy, hadn’t she? Well, not right at the end, where everyone she’d ever known and cared for had betrayed her, either believing Akainu that she was a threat like her father, or too afraid for their own lives and positions to risk them for her. But she was pretty sure there had been some happy carefree times like this with them right?

Her thoughts were interrupted as the bandit she remembered was named Higuma burst in and demanded sake for himself and his group bragging about himself and his eight million belli bounty. She fought back a snort of amusement as he waved his bounty poster around like some kind of trophy in the faces of the crew, all of whom had bigger bounties than his, simply for being part of a Yonko’s crew and Shanks himself whose bounty was close to a hundred times greater than his.

She watched as Shanks allowed the other pirate to ridicule him and make a mess before walking away. Back when she’d been actually this age she hadn’t understood, but now she could understand a little why the pirates were laughing. Still something continued to bother her, and she figured while she had the chance she might as well ask. Not like she was going to throw the tantrum just for nostalgia’s sake after all.

Shanks looked down at the small girl who’d tugged on his shirt sleeve to get his attention, an amused grin on his face, expecting to be yelled at by the loud energetic little girl he’d become fond of during his time here in Fuusha. Instead he was met with a frown and curious eyes the color of mahogany that seemed too old for her young face. Confused he glanced up at Makino who it seemed had also been expecting an outburst. She shrugged at him, looking as puzzled as he felt.

“What is it anchor?” he asked genuinely curious to know what would’ve made the brash girl he knew behave to solemnly.

A pout, that he manfully refused to see as adorable, crossed her face and he held back an amused chuckle at her automatic response (I’m not an anchor! You meanie!).

“Nee Shanks why didn’t you fight back? I know you could’ve beat him!” she asked staring up at him with those wide solemn eyes filled with absolute certainty in his abilities.

He was doing his best not to cave into her cuteness (because damnit pirates did not find little girls with big brown eyes adorable like puppies and kittens!) which had honestly proved fruitless in the past and was proving fruitless now, “Well, what would be the point anchor? Sure I could take him, but he wasn’t a threat to us, not really. Fighting him over something as petty as spilled drinks would be a waste of time and energy.”

Ruby nodded her suspicions confirmed but unwilling to just let it go and wanting to tease Shanks some more for calling her anchor not once but twice she continued, “But he scared Makino! And he could’ve hurt her too! That’s it I’ve decided you’re not cute any more and Makino deserves someone better so there!”

She blew a raspberry into Shanks shocked face as the pirates around them roared with laughter at their unfortunate captain and clambered over the bar to her favorite caretaker tugging on the blushing woman’s hand, “Makino I’m still hungry!”

Makino gave up and giggled hugging her charge tightly before gesturing for her to take a seat at the bar and going to get the little girl more food, leaving a still sputtering Shanks behind.

…~oO*Oo~…

That night as she lay tucked up in her room above the bar Ruby began to think, really think about all that had happened to her today. Because her original theory about being in heaven couldn’t be right. Now she wasn’t completely positive but she was pretty sure when you’re dead things aren’t supposed to hurt anymore and when Makino had led her up the stairs earlier she’d been too sleepy to pay attention and had landed square on her face.

Makino had taken one look at her and sighed before calling for Shanks who carried her up to bed and helped Makino tuck her in ruffling her hair before leaving her to her presumed sleep. All the while she lay unresponsive with her eyes closed because, while it hadn’t hurt a lot the fall had hurt.

Thinking about it now, the evening had played almost exactly to her memories, except when she’d decided to not act the way she had before. If she was supposed to be reliving her happy memories shouldn’t she be unable to change things in them?

Let it be said that while she’d gained intelligence during her time as a marine, Monkey D. Ruby was still the kind of person who relied on instinct first, intelligence later, which made her terrifying to those who used Observation Haki to predict their opponents moves. She was too unpredictable for that. Her instincts had never led her wrong, she’d been right to be wary of Akainu, of the government, of the marines. The only time she’d fought with her instincts was when she’d agreed to be a marine for the sake of her family, for Garp the only one who’d loved her. And it turned out her instincts had been right all along, she never should’ve allowed him to persuade her to be a marine.

It was why even now she wasn’t questioning what they told her, just marveling at it, and pondering the possibilities. Somehow, someway she had traveled back in time, she was seven years old again and she could change things, had already changed things.

After all tonight was the night she was meant to get the gomu-gomu no mi, but she hadn’t eaten it, hadn’t even considered it even when she saw it sitting on the bar next to her, too enraptured by Shanks and Makino.

She felt a pang of loss for the fruit that had been her faithful companion through the years, protecting and helping her, but at the same time, it was also the reason she had been taken down. No amount of haki could protect a devil fruit user from seastone. 

Thinking about the future she knew she had some big decisions to make here and now in order to be ready, because there was one thing she couldn’t change. Monkey D. Dragon was her father and nothing she did would change that, and that meant the world was already her enemy whether she liked it or not. 

It was frustrating, and disheartening and it made her want to rage and scream at the man for what he’d done to her, but she was a pretty pragmatic person and knew it wouldn’t do her any good. Plus she’d choose an existence with the world as her enemy over no existence at all.

Still joining the marines again was not an option, she wouldn’t have even if she had been someone else’s daughter. Who would want to be part of a group of backstabbing, cowardly traitors? She fought a snort at that, because that’s what marines claimed all pirates to be.

The thought made her freeze and think, pirates? Hadn’t she once dreamed of being a pirate? A pirate like Shanks? She turned the thought over in her mind, the idea should be abhorrent to her, considering her past occupation, but something about it struck her.

There were marines out there, who thought all pirates were evil and deserved to be imprisoned or killed, but she wasn’t the kind of person who saw in straight black and white, not anymore. She could admit some pirates were evil but some… There had been times in her career when she’d seen pirates do incredible things, like risk their lives for their crew, or protect innocent people. The ones that came to mind first were of course Shanks, who gave his arm for her life, and surprisingly Whitebeard, who’d given his life trying to save Portgas D. Ace, the son of his rival, who he’d taken in and considered his very own son.

She’d been moved by that devotion, that bond between nakama more than once in her career and several pirates had escaped because of it, which was probably why she’d never been promoted past vice-admiral despite being more than strong enough.

If she was honest with herself, she wanted that kind of bond for herself. The one where she could put her life on the line for someone knowing they’d do the same in kind. It was settled then, this time instead of being declared an enemy of the world for her birth she would declare them her enemy first. She would raise the jolly roger and fight for her freedom and her right to exist! Plus being a pirate would mean fulfilling her promise in the best way, getting revenge on the marines without even trying.

That settled she was finally able to drift off to sleep, feeling at peace with herself for the first time since she’d agreed to be a marine for her gramps’ sake all those years ago.

…~oO*Oo~…

Shanks and his crew had left that morning, and Ruby knew it would be a little while before they came back again, a few days, which gave her time to think. She really needed to talk to Shanks. He’d been good to her as a child and she was sure if ever she’d come to him for help after finding out who her father was, he would’ve helped her, he was that kind of person.

Unfortunately in her last life her resolve to become a marine had made keeping in touch with him impossible, but that wouldn’t be the case this time. She refused to lose contact with one of the few people who’d treated her with affection as a child.

She also had to start making plans right away. With the world as her enemy, even if they didn’t know it yet, she couldn’t afford to be weak. She would have to train to be strong, strong enough to take on the world, as strong as the old legends Whitebeard, Roger, Gramps and Sengoku. However that wouldn’t be enough, she’d also have to find strong nakama to have her back, after all even the strongest person had weaknesses and could be taken down without someone they trusted at their backs.

Unfortunately the second goal was out of reach for now. There was no one in Fuusha worth recruiting to her crew, but the first was doable. She knew what she needed to do, it was just putting it into practice that was going to be a pain. Still she was resolved and so had begun her circuit around the village, running as best she could in this small body. Unfortunately it was going to take some time to get used to having shorter limbs again, and she tripped several times during her circuit, but she kept at it, with the stubborn determination that had made her a damn fine vice-admiral if she did say so herself.

She knew it was going to take a lot of work to get back to the level she was at before, partially because she was determined to do it without a devil fruit to avoid their weaknesses. She’d have to work even harder than she had before, no goofing off this time or not paying attention not if she wanted to survive.

Makino watched her formerly cheerful charge run around the village with grim determination in her eyes and worried. Ruby had always been an upbeat child, loud, brash and outgoing, but for some reason ever since yesterday things had changed. Ruby’s eyes had always been expressive, but nowadays they seemed guarded as if something was weighing heavily on her.

Sadly she really couldn’t think of what to do to help the little girl she’d come to love as her own, especially since she didn’t know what had happened to change her. Her best bet was probably to wait until Shanks got back and have a talk with him to see if he could get little Ru-chan to open up about her troubles. After all Ruby practically worshipped the ground the red head walked on, if anyone could help her it would be Shanks.

…~oO*Oo~…

A week passed with Ruby going about her routine, training until she dropped, only stopping when Makino called for her to make her eat. It was during one of these breaks for lunch that she was rudely interrupted, finally remembering that Higuma and his bandit lackeys would be returning.

She grimaced as he plopped down in Shanks seat and started drinking with his buddies, laughing at Shanks and his crew and insulting them. However she held her temper reminding herself that Shanks could squish Higuma and co like bugs if he really wanted to, in fact despite the loss of her physique along with her armament haki abilities she could probably beat him herself, especially if she could still use conqueror’s haki.

While proficient in all sorts of haki conqueror’s had always been her best, she was better at it than even her gramps and Sengoku. It was why they’d ambushed her with seastone, sending in only the strongest when Akainu decided she needed to die for justice’s sake.

Her dark thoughts were interrupted by a surprised yelp and she glanced up startled. One of the bandits had a hand wrapped around Makino’s wrist and was trying to pull her on to his lap.

“Oy let her go you bastard!” she shouted without thinking, jumping down from her stool and punching the man with all her might. Her weak child body meant that instead of being knocked out and going through several walls and trees on his way out of the bar and out of Fuusha the man was just knocked back, but it was enough to get him to release her caretaker.

What happened next was a blur as the bandit and his friends all tried to jump her. She ran into the center square to avoid damaging Makino’s bar and was doing a half decent job of knocking around the bandits thanks to her observation haki not allowing them to land hits on her, but it was taking more of her own hits to knock them out then she would’ve wanted. Still something was better than nothing at all.

A loud yell interrupted the fight and she turned to look, seeing the bandit Higuma holding a gun to Makino’s head. She immediately froze, unaware of the picture she made, her Mahogony eyes tinted red from the light of the sun, blood dripping off her fists from the downed bandits and the iciest glare Higuma had ever seen in his life.

She didn’t even move when the bandits around her cheered and another one leveled a knife to her own neck, refusing to look away from Higuma even when a thin red line was gouged in the tender flesh of her neck.

Never had Ruby been this angry before. Sure she’d had men taken hostage before, but they were all navy soldiers who knew what they had signed up for. Makino was a civilian whose only crime was caring for a child. Plus to her Makino’s life was worth far more than anyone she’d worked with in the marines’.

“I’ll give you one chance bandit, put Makino down,” compared to the angry shouting from earlier during her fight the calm way she said it made hairs rise on the back of the bandits necks.

“Or what?” Higuma demanded refusing to lose face in front of his group and give in to the fear he was feeling from a seven year old girl child.

“Or I’ll kill you,” it was said so matter of factly that even Makino who had been staring at her charge in surprise at her calm behavior, having expected more brashness like she’d shown earlier, gaped in disbelief. She shook slightly in fear, not for herself but for Ruby, no matter how tough she looked right now she was still a child, Makino’s child. She had to do something! She couldn’t let everything rest on Ruby like this.

No sooner had the thought passed her mind than the bandit pistol whipped her across the face, eliciting a pained cry from Makino and a roar of rage from the small dark haired girl, and that was the last thing Higuka knew as an overwhelming pressure bore down on him and his mind broke from the strain.

All around her bandits dropped like flies, as Ruby staggered slightly her vision swimming. It seemed she could still use Conqueror’s Haki, but it took a lot out of her. Trying to clear her head her gaze landed on the fallen form of her beloved caretaker.

“Makino!” she barely registered her own panicked cry as she staggered forward her hands reaching for her friend, clutching on to her desperately. 

Makino sat up with a groan holding a hand to her cheek that was throbbing terribly, and noticed the crying child clinging to her middle. Glancing around she saw all the bandits were unconscious with Shanks standing in the middle of the group where Ruby had been, smiling in relief she hugged the small body to her, making soothing noises to her tearful charge completely unaware of what had happened to the bandits, assuming Shanks had taken care of it, even as the red haired man stared in shock at the dark haired child he’d befriended sobbing into her caretaker’s arms, making a note that he and Ruby were going to have to have a long chat about what she’d just done.

…~oO*Oo~…

“… And then he hit me across the face with the gun and I blacked out and that’s all I remember,” Makino told the pirates explaining what had happened in their absence while still holding on to Ruby who refused to let go of her.

“Thank you so much for your help captain-san, I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t shown up just then,” Makino finished with a smile, completely oblivious to the stiffening of the small child in her arms.

Ruby finally looked up from Makino’s middle and Shanks’ heart hurt as he stared into the big watery brown eyes and tear stained face of the scrappiest kid he’d ever met. Who looked completely terrified of what he’d say, that he’d reveal what really happened to Makino.

He met her eyes squarely and nodded, getting a surprised but hopeful look and a nod in return before sharing a look with his crew telling them to keep silent on this. Shanks offered his lover a kind smile, “Don’t worry about it Makino. I’m just glad we got here before anything worse could happen.”

And something worse could have happened. Both girls could be dead now, would’ve been dead or raped in Makino’s case if little Ruby wasn’t as strong as she was. He knew Ruby had only been teasing when she said he should’ve taken out the bandit because he could hurt Makino, but now he was wishing he had done something, anything to avoid coming back only to see both about to be killed for his carelessness.

“Now Ruby do you think you can let go of Makino long enough for us to get her to our doctor? He’ll take a look at the cut on her face and check for any other injuries,” Shanks prompted gently, taking control of the situation.

The little girl nodded and carefully released Makino rubbing her teary eyes with her fists, to get rid of the water there before getting to her feet, swaying slightly only to be caught by Shanks who recognized the exhaustion from using the King’s disposition for what is was, hoisting her on to his shoulders before gently helping Makino to her feet.

The group of them boarded the red force together and Shanks pulled the exhausted girl off his shoulders and tucked her into a spare bed in the infirmary waiting for Doc to take a look at her too where she quickly succumbed to fatigue.

Luckily Makino just had a gash on her cheek that would heal given time and Ruby was just exhausted with bloodied knuckles. Still even with such minor injuries he couldn’t bring himself to leave their sides, settling himself between the two beds and leaving Benn in charge of the crew for now.

Makino caught Shanks eye and smiled at the worried looking pirate captain who was keeping a close eye on both her and her charge, “You shouldn’t worry so much we’re fine now.”

“I know,” Shanks told her with a small smile that was nowhere near his trademark grin but still all the more sincere for it, “I just want to reassure myself a little, that was far too close for my liking.”

Makino nodded agreement, knowing there was really nothing she could say to help soothe his worries, but figured she could at least distract him, now was as good a time as any to share her concerns. Quietly, so as not to disturb the sleeping little girl she explained the strange change of attitude. At first Shanks wanted to blame the bandits, but she had been acting oddly even before they arrived in the bar.

“That is strange, but I think the best thing for it might be to just flat out ask her. As long as I’ve known her Ruby’s been a fairly straightforward sort of girl, so what do you say anchor? Got an explanation?” Shanks asked turning towards the still little girl in the other bed.

Ruby cursed herself, calling herself all kinds of names in her head, for all that Shanks was sometimes an airhead and carefree, he was also incredibly intelligent and his haki was prodigious. Of course he’d noticed she’d woken up and was eavesdropping.

Thinking quickly and knowing the truth wasn’t an option here. They would never believe her, hell she wasn’t sure she believed it and she was the one living it. Still she decided to go as close to the truth of what happened to her as possible. She respected them far too much to give them anything but.

“My father,” the words came out more bitter than she intended and she bit her lip hard enough to bleed her fists clenching in anger.

“Your father Ru-chan?” Makino prompted gently, deeply concerned.

“Before I tell you, you have to realize this can’t go any further than us, if this information gets into the wrong hands I’ll be standing on top of the executioners platform before you can say absolute justice,” she told them quietly her tone still bitter as she curled her body into a ball, leaning against the wall and wrapping her arms around her knees, refusing to look either adult in the eye.

The two adults exchanged deeply concerned looks, and Shanks eyed the girl solemnly, the allusion to the marines hadn’t been lost on him, and he already had some suspicions as to where this was going, “I’d like to be able to tell Benn at least, he’s a good man, there’s no one I trust more.”

“Benn is fine, Yasopp and Lucky Roo as well, just make sure no one overhears you talk about it,” she told him glancing up to hold his eyes long enough to see him nod.

“I promise no one will find out from me or my crew anything you want to remain secret,” Shanks told her firmly.

“I told you my full name when I introduced myself, Monkey D. Ruby, and since you were a pirate on Gol D. Roger’s ship I know you have to have made the connection between me and Gramps Monkey D. Garp,” she began quietly holding his gaze steadily so he knew she was being as honest as possible.

Shanks frowned, of course he’d made the connection, though he was surprised she’d figured out who his old captain was. Though maybe he shouldn’t be, the stories he told her tended to have Roger in them, and his crew would no doubt have mentioned it in her hearing before.

“What you probably haven’t connected is who my father, Garp’s son is. His is a name feared around the world, Monkey D. Dragon,” she admitted spitting out the words that tasted like ash and shame in her mouth.

Makino was confused. She’d never heard of a Monkey D. Dragon before. Sure she knew Ruby was Garp’s grandchild through a son but he’d never really talked about that son with her.

Shanks however was much more widely traveled than Makino who’d never had reason to leave Fuusha and kept a thumb on the pulse of world politics for the benefit of himself and his crew, “The Revolutionary Dragon?!”

“That’s him,” Ruby confirmed flatly a dark expression on her face that neither adult liked, “The most dangerous man in the world.”

“I don’t understand,” Makino admitted quietly, “I’ve heard the name before, but what has he done that makes you so worried Ru-chan?”

“Dragon is a man with a powerful ambition, to overthrow the World Government and rid it of its corruption. From what I understand he’s a firm advocate against slavery, the tenryuubito, and the gorosei, and is willing to do anything to achieve his goals including incite war. Over all he’s very powerful both politically and in and of himself. He’s the one man in the world right now that the marines fear the most,” Shanks explained quietly.

“That’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with you Ru-chan?” Makino asked hesitantly.

“Makino have you heard of Baterilla?” Ruby asked turning her gaze to the kindly green haired woman, ignoring Shanks’ sharp intake of breath.

“Baterilla?” Makino repeated confused.

“Baterilla is a small island in the South Blue, a peaceful place a lot like Fuusha, or at least it used to be,” she explained hugging her knees tighter and lowering her gaze to her hands clenching and unclenching them, “Before the execution of the pirate king there was a rumor, no, a whisper of a rumor that Gol D. Roger had a lover in the South Blue, on Baterilla. Worse, that he had a child,” Ruby began repeating the story as best she could through her anger, it was stories like this that always made her question why she’d joined the marines in the first place.

“After his execution the marines quickly turned to eliminating the threat of Gol D. Roger, wanting to wipe his name from the history books and get atop the wave he created with his death, but the tidal wave of the Great Pirate Era couldn’t be stopped and the fear of Roger and his legacy grew.”

“And then the whisper of a rumor reached the wrong ears about that child, and the instant reaction was fear. If Gol D. Roger could set the world on its ear what could his child do? It was quickly decided, that child must be a monster, a demon that shouldn’t be allowed to exist, and so it must be exterminated.”

“The World Government converged on Baterilla, the admirals, the vice admirals, the Gorosei all in the South Blue searching far and wide, pulling pregnant women from their homes for extensive tests that often killed both mother and child, and killing anyone who resisted. It was a massacre, and very few survived, to this day there are no more than a handful of children in the South Blue.”

“Funny thing is, they never found even a hint of the Pirate King’s child, all those innocents dead. For what?! For the persecution of a baby who hadn’t done anything wrong!” Ruby didn’t know when she’d gotten to her feet but she was standing on the bed her hands clenched at her sides as she yelled at them fighting the nausea she still felt over it, and the death of Portgas D. Ace who was killed simply for existing.

“And now, now I find out that I’m _his_ child. The child of the man the World Government fears most. I’m that child now, the child they’ll search Fuusha for slaughtering everyone in their way if the wrong people catch wind of me. So that’s why, that’s why,” she trembled biting back tears as all the emotion of being forced into her execution, betrayed by the government she’d put her faith in, and the father who should’ve protected her, forced its way forward from where she’d been trying to suppress it.

“I have to train. I don’t have any choice! That man certainly isn’t protecting me, and Gramps will do his best but he’s only one man! The entire world is my enemy because I exist!” Tears poured down her cheeks as she came to grips with the reality that would be her existence.

“I have to be stronger, stronger and stronger and stronger. I have to be able to fight the world. I can’t afford to run around acting like an idiot all care free or I’ll die. I’ll be killed and maybe all of Fuusha and Gramps along with me. I don’t want to die!” She screamed desperately at them, unable to stop the outpouring of words once she’d started.

“I’m scared. I’m so scared, but I want to live. I _want_ to, so what else can I do? What else…?” her brief bout of strength deserted her and she collapsed to her knees sobbing into the bed sheets which she clenched in her fists. Great wracking sobs that shook her entire body, as she allowed her fear, grief and anger to pour out of her.

She was surprised to feel herself picked up and pulled close. She tried to fight it for a moment, not wanting anyone close to her, but was overpowered and pulled into a firm chest. She recognized the soft cotton shirt Shanks liked to wear and the scent of sandlewood as she sobbed and screamed alternatively into his shoulder wrapping her arms around his neck accepting his comforting grip as she felt a warm presence come around behind her, the scent of lilac Makino’s favorite perfume and wrap the two of them in a tight embrace and soothing words whispered quietly into her hair.

Her body couldn’t maintain that state for long though, especially as she was already exhausted, and she sobbed herself into silence in the comforting embrace of two of the three people she’d always held in highest regard.

“Is it true what she said?” Makino asked worriedly, even as she pet Ruby’s dark hair, gently running her fingers through it in a soothing motion, still holding both her and Shanks close.

“It is,” Shanks told her grimly unintentionally tightening his grip on the exhausted girl. If she’d learned this, if she’d figured it all out, then no wonder she’d changed so quickly. Learning you were living with a death sentence was something that greatly changed a person, he could say this with certainty having watched Roger change after finding out about his incurable illness.

But this was different, he was already making plans, because this time he could do something. He couldn’t save Roger, who was like a father to him, being only a lowly cabin boy back then and fighting against an enemy even Roger couldn’t defeat, but with Ruby, who reminded him so much of Roger it hurt sometimes, Ruby could be, would be saved.

“That’s quite the burden you’ve been carrying around all by yourself Ru-chan,” Shanks told her quietly, “Too big a burden for such a little girl. How did you find out about all this anyway.”

“Gramps gets maudlin when he gets drunk and loose-lipped besides,” Ruby admitted quietly, her voice hoarse from tears and shouting, “And I’ve heard him say my father’s name before. It wasn’t hard to put together Monkey D. Dragon with Dragon the revolutionary, not when the townspeople were talking about him last week.”

It was the truth, anyone would’ve been able to put the two together if they’d overheard some of the things she had as a child, but back then she’d been truly a child with a child’s view on life, and brushed off Gramps drunken rambling and the gossip of the citizens as having nothing to do with her.

Shanks grimaced and fought the urge to go and beat some of the townspeople into submission. No little girl should be trying to shoulder what she was, and while part of him wished she could’ve stayed innocent a little longer, the other more practical part realized it was probably a good thing, this was something that was going to take more than just a bit of training, this was going to take a lifetime of hard work to keep ahead and a great deal of help.

“Ruby, listen to me, you’re going to be okay,” Shanks told her seriously, using her full name and causing the small girl to jerk in his grasp, wide mahogany eyes staring up at him in shock, “You’re going to live. I promise you, you’ll live. Do you believe me?”

Ruby’s lips trembled. She knew Shanks was a good man, but this amount of conviction surprised her, she hadn’t expected it, hadn’t expected any support whatsoever really and while she wanted to trust his word, she’d already died once before.

“How?” she asked tiredly, “How am I supposed to live?”

“With my help of course, and the help of my crew,” Shanks told her firmly, “You said you wanted to be strong right? I’ll teach you to be strong.”

“You’ll help me?!” she asked surprised staring up at him with wide eyes, unable to help the small spark within her. Shanks had been a heroic figure in her childhood and she’d always admired him, but as she’d grown that admiration had dwindled a bit turning into a distant sort of respect for a good man.

Now though that admiration was being rekindled as she stared up at him in wonder. In reality Shanks hadn’t known her all that long, sure he’d been based in Fuusha for almost a year, but most of the time he’d spent out on the ocean with only sporadic visits back. To think he would go so far for someone like her was mind boggling.

Shanks stared down at the big teary eyes filled with a frail sort of hope and felt his resolve harden, “I..”

“Of course we’ll help you Ru-chan! Only scum not deserving of the title man would turn his back on a child in need,” a teary male voice interrupted and all three occupants of the small medical ward looked up to see Benn Beckman, Lucky Roo, and Yassopp standing in the doorway, Yassopp being the one who’d spoken. 

Seeing the frown on Shanks face and the question there Benn spoke up, “We’ve been standing here since Ruby-chan approved our names to hear what she had to say, we sent everyone else away. No one else heard anything, promise, and Ruby-chan, his timing was poor but I agree with Yassopp, of course we’ll help you.”

“It’s going to be hard, really hard little anchor, but if you work hard, if you train every day with our help we can help you get strong enough to survive the world,” Shanks promised her, gently ruffling her hair affectionately.

“I will!” she promised almost desperately, which made his heart hurt for the innocence she had already lost and would continue to lose, “I’ll work so hard! The hardest ever I swear, I won’t disappoint you!”

“I know you will Ru-chan,” Shanks assured her setting her hands on her shoulders to steady her as she swayed a bit where she stood, “But for now, get some rest, you’re dead on your feet.”

The little girl looked up at him, apparently studying him with her intense brown eyes, before finally nodding, slipping back down on the bed, and this time falling asleep for real as soon as her head hit the pillow.

“My poor Ru-chan,” Makino whispered tearfully, gently stroking her dark hair as she slept, “No wonder she was acting so strange. Do you really think you’re going to be able to help her?”

“It’s going to be difficult,” Shanks admitted wryly, “We’ve actually stayed in this area far longer than we probably should have, and rumor has it Garp is actually going to be heading back here sometime soon. If we stay too much longer the Marines might discover Ruby and her parentage as they look into why I’m spending so much time here.”

“But what are we going to do then?” Makino asked anxiously, “You promised to help her, does that mean you’ll be taking her with you?”

“No,” Shanks immediately denied, “The New World half of the Grand Line is far too dangerous for a seven year old girl, even one as gutsy as little anchor. We’re going to have to find some other way to help her.”

“I have an idea captain, if you’re interested,” Benn offered lighting a cigarette and taking a long drag.

“By all means fire away Benn!” Shanks told him cheerfully.

“You said the marines would notice and start taking interest if we stayed too long in the area, but what if it was just one of us?” Benn asked blowing out a stream of smoke.

“What you mean like leave someone behind?” Shanks asked with a frown.

“Yes and no, we couldn’t do it this time, not with Garp coming, but I see no reason why one of us can’t sneak away for short periods, say a month or so at a time, and use the time to train little Ruby. It wouldn’t even be that difficult for Yassop, Roo or I to sneak away for a bit and not have the marines notice, though it might be a bit more difficult for you, it might still be manageable,” Benn told him.

Shanks nodded slowly digesting the plan, it was a good one, easy enough to follow through on. They wouldn’t be able to train her constantly, but if she was as motivated as he thought she was there was no reason why she couldn’t continue training on her own in between visits.

“It’s a good plan, we might have to make tweaks here and there, but I think it’ll work,” Shanks conceded with a grin.

“Is there anything I can do?” Makino asked anxiously wringing her hands.

“Yeah, don’t let her give up completely on being a little girl,” Yasopp told her grimly.

“What does that mean?” Makino questioned confused.

“It means she’s a little girl, just seven like my own son, I understand she’s going to have to fight and train really hard just to survive, but it would be a shame to spend a life surviving instead of living,” Yasopp explained.

Makino nodded slowly digesting that, “I think I understand what you’re saying, don’t let her get so wrapped up in training, that training is the only thing she does, remind her to have fun right?”

“Exactly,” Roo told her with a grinning as he munched on his ever present turkey leg, “We wouldn’t want to ruin little anchor’s childhood completely.”

“I think I can handle that,” Makino told them with a smile.

“Alright, so that’s settled,” Shanks told them with a grin, “Now we just need to figure out how and what we’re going to teach her.”

The group nodded and sat down to work.

…~oO*Oo~…

Ruby carefully followed Shanks as he led her into the outskirts of the forest around Fuusha. The adults had finished explaining the plan to her, and she’d been shocked and more than a little awed about how far the Red Hair pirates were willing to go for her. More than ever she regretted letting that relationship fade away in her last life, and she swore no matter what she would find a way to maintain it in this one.

As they walked Shanks explained to her what she’d done yesterday to the bandits, giving her a short rundown on Haki, its types and its uses, along with carefully educating her on what a Devil Fruit was and what it did. She knew all this of course, but it was interesting to hear it from another point of view.

The Marines actually had a program that you had to go through once you reached a certain level that explained these kinds of things, though they pretty much left Devil Fruit powers to beware, use seastone, and don’t let other Devil Fruit using marines drown, considering how varied the types of Devil Fruits could be that was probably for the best.

Hhile she’d done the program (despite already knowing bits and pieces from Gramps) she’d found their explanation of Haki more than a bit dry all things considered. Because honestly Haki was pretty awesome, it was like super powers that everyone could use like in the stories Makino used to tell her when she was little (littler? Before? Honestly this past life stuff was very confusing.)

That and they’d barely talked about Conqueror’s Haki at all, mostly because they never really expected anyone to awaken it, but awaken it she had, and when that had happened she’d immediately been shunted off to her very proud Gramps for lessons.

Luckily by then she’d had some Armament to protect her from Gramps fists of love during training, unluckily she found out he’d actually been holding way back the entire time, and now felt like he didn’t need to anymore. By the end of training her bruises’ bruises had bruises, but she’d been able to control it.

Shanks’ explanation of Haki was far different than Garp’s, with far more detailed explanations of what it could and couldn’t do. If she hadn’t had her previous life’s experiences to draw on the things he was saying probably would’ve gone right over her head, even as it was he was starting to give her a headache with his technical jargon.

“Okay, I get it, so Observation lets you predict people, Armament lets you protect yourself and attack people, and Conqueror’s knocks people out, and you said you’re going to teach me all three, but how?” she asked impatiently, interrupting him.

“Why by practicing little anchor!” Shanks informed her jovially, though not before gently cuffing her on the head for her interruption, “And we start, with Conquerors!”

“Conquerors? Why that one?” she asked confused. In the marines Conqueror’s Haki had been left until last, almost an afterthought despite its power.

“Because Ruby, Conqueror’s Haki can be very dangerous,” Shanks told her seriously, indicating his level of gravity by using her full first name, catching her complete attention, “I understand why you did what you did yesterday. I even understand that you probably didn’t do it on purpose, but those bandits. Ruby the leader of those bandits didn’t just pass out from your Conqueror’s Haki the way most would, he broke instead, his mind shattered to bits. He will never function as a normal human being again. In some ways he’s worse than dead.”

“This tells me your Conqueror’s will is very _very_ strong, and while that’s a good thing for the future right now it’s a bad thing,” Shanks informed her gently.

“A bad thing?” she parroted with a frown.

“Yes because Conqueror’s Haki, when it’s first awakened tends to be triggered by strong emotions,” he explained grimly, “And right now you don’t have any control over it, which means it could burst out of you really at any time. Ruby you could hurt people. Yesterday you were seriously lucky you didn’t shatter Makino’s mind right along with Higumas considering how close the two were standing.”

Ruby froze, she knew that, or at least she had once upon a time, but things in this childish mind seemed to slip through the cracks sometimes, and she worried more than a bit about forgetting things. She would have to practice her thinking again, to get her mind used to it to make sure she remembered. She couldn’t forget, she _refused_ to forget! She couldn’t make the same mistakes!

“I don’t want to hurt Makino,” she told him anxiously, knowing that despite the fact that she could use Conqueror’s again she didn’t have near the control she’d had in her last life, “Or anyone else in Fuusha.”

“I know little anchor,” Shanks told her ruffling her hair fondly, “Which is why we’re starting with training that. Normally I’d ease you into this a bit slower, but unfortunately we don’t have a whole lot of time before your grandfather gets here, which means we’re going to have to brute force this as much as possible and do fine tuning later.”

“How are we going to do that?” she asked confused.

“Well like this,” Shanks told her sweeping aside the foliage in the forest to reveal a pack of snarling wolves, who looked just as surprised to see her and Shansk as she was to see them. She hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings at all, too caught up in Shanks’ explanations.

“Shanks what?” she questioned confused and maybe a little concerned.

“Subdue them anchor,” he ordered, “Use your Conqueror’s Haki!”

She reached for her inner will the way she’d done in her last life, but came up short unable to reach it.

“Shanks I can’t!” she shouted to him anxiously, as several of the wolves took steps towards her, snarling dangerously.”

“Then you better run until you figure it out!” Shanks called his voice surprisingly far away.

Glancing around frantically she finally located the redheaded captain perched safely in a tree, watching her with an amused smile on his face. She gawked at him in shock, her mind slowly putting the pieces together as she looked between him and the wolves.

Unfortunately the wolves weren’t going to give her time to think, and before she knew it she was crashing through the woods, screaming curses learned from a lifetime in the Marines at the redheaded captain, and wondering what the hell she’d been thinking asking him for help.

Several times she almost managed to escape the pack of wolves, but each time Shanks would purposely lure her or them back into each other’s proximity and the chase would begin again. Her lungs were burning and her legs ached, her arms and face were covered in scratches from whipping branches and her desperation was rising.

Finally she was cornered against a cliff side, with no way out, and she reached desperately for her Haki. Apparently panic, a strong emotion if ever there was one, did actually make it easier to reach, and she threw it out as hard as she could at the pack in front of her. They dropped like flies, and she sank to her rear exhausted.

“Not bad anchor!” Shanks told her cheerfully appearing next to the wolves and carefully checking them over for signs of life, “Not quite as fast as I would’ve liked and the blast was far too strong for mere wolves, but we’ll work on it, now time to go again.”

She gaped at him unable to move as he picked her up by her shirt and carried her off into the forest to a new group of predators. They kept at it, over and over again, pushing her well beyond her limits, some blasts of Haki were strong enough to knock not only her opponent out but her as well from sheer exhaustion and when that happened Shanks would let her sleep for a bit and then force her to wake back up again, and try again.

It took them a week, and in that time they only stopped to eat some of the animals she knocked out, or to sleep for a few hours, but by the end of that week she was able to control her Conqueror’s Haki well enough to use it at will. It was still far, _far_ too strong to use on anything but animals without breaking people’s minds the way she had Higuma’s, but she wouldn’t be using it on accident anymore, which was a relief to both of them.

Shanks had told her he was impressed by how quickly she’d mastered that piece of it, assuring her it had taken him far longer. She on the other hand wasn’t happy. After all she’d done this before, this and so much more, to her thinking it shouldn’t have taken nearly as long as it had.

Unfortunately they’d gotten word from Benn that it was official, Garp was on his way and the Red Hair pirates needed to leave if they didn’t want to tangle with the extremely formidable Vice Admiral. 

Luckily Shanks’ crew hadn’t been idle while the two of them were away in the forest training. They’d actually taken the time to discreetly rob the nearest marine base, and proudly presented their find to her. It was a DenDen Mushi, pale pink in color with a bright red shell.

Cheerfully they’d presented it to Ruby, pleased with themselves. Shanks had explained they’d use that Denden to keep in contact with her to let her know when they were coming. Her lips had trembled, and her eyes watered as she’d accepted the snail holding it close, but she managed to keep her tears from overflowing, until Shanks led her aside.

“Ruby,” he told her seriously, “I need you to make me a promise, a couple of them actually.”

“I’ll protect Makino!” she promised seriously, “I’ll make sure she’s safe while you’re gone.”

Shanks chuckled, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, and there was a light pink tint to his cheeks, “That wasn’t what I was going to say, but I appreciate that anchor.”

“I promise to train very, very hard while you’re gone. I’ll work every day I promise!” she tried again earnestly.

“I know you will anchor,” he assured her gently ruffling her pigtails, “But that’s still not what I was going to say.”

Ruby frowned puzzled, wondering what else he could want from her.

“You need to promise me you won’t work on anymore Conqueror’s Haki without me,” Shanks told her firmly.

“But…!” she tried to protest.

“No!” he insisted in the sternest voice she’d ever heard him use, “It’s not a toy Ruby, and you could hurt yourself or others very badly if I’m not around to supervise. You’re going to promise me not to train it or use it unless the situation is extremely dire, only if you feel your life or Makino’s is in danger, and you can’t get out of it any other way.”

She hesitated for a long moment, but the look on Shanks face forced her to give in, he was right after all, while she knew the next steps and knew to be careful around people there was a good chance she’d get killed if she practiced on her own, because her Conqueror’s still tended to make her lightheaded and faint, which would make her easy prey to other animals in the forest if they came across her in that state, besides she had plenty of other things she could work on, physical fitness for one, “Fine. I promise.”

Shanks studied her for a moment, evidently gauging her sincerity before nodded seriously, “Good girl, one more thing Ruby.”

“What?” she asked with a pout, hoping it wouldn’t be too unreasonable.

“I want you to promise me you’ll live,” he told her earnestly.

“Course I’m going to live!” she told him with a grin, “That’s the whole point of all this training right? To not die? I’ll be careful though if you’re worried…”

She trailed off as she saw Shanks shaking his head at her, and frowned confused.

“I don’t mean don’t die Ruby, though I’d appreciate that as well. I meant _live_ find things in life that bring you joy, make friends, be happy, don’t just bury yourself in training and forget to enjoy things,” he explained seriously.

“After all what’s the point of all this training if not to live? Sure you might survive, but surviving isn’t good enough Ruby I want you to live, can you do that for me?” he asked surprisingly gently.

Ruby stared at him wide-eyed taking in what he was saying. She understood the concept of it living the way he described, but it wasn’t something she’d thought about all too much. Her life with the Marines had been surviving not living. Sure there had been bright moments here and there, but she hadn’t been happy not really.

The constraints of the organization had made her feel more than a little trapped at times. There were days when she’d sat in her office at Marineford or paused on her laps around the walls to gaze out at the sea and wish she could just take off, go wherever the hell she wanted, do whatever came to mind, but she hadn’t. She’d let what she felt was her duty chain her in place. Never again, she could never do that again.

The realization came swift and sharp as she realized more than anything what she wanted, had always wanted. She wanted to be free. Free from her duties as a marine, free from her grandfather and Sengoku’s expectations, free from her father’s shadow. She wanted to be free.

Even just the realization of what she wanted felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her, as her mind swiftly moved from what she wanted to how to make such a thing possible. She’d been given a second chance, something she doubted many were gifted and she would not waste it. She would be a pirate, that she already knew, but not just any pirate. In order to gain her freedom, to be the freest person in the world she was going to have to be the best of the best, and there was only one way to do it.

Shanks was startled by the intensity of Ruby’s eyes as she finally looked up from where she was studying her hands intently. There was something in those eyes… Something had changed, though he’d be damned if he knew what.

“I swear I’ll live,” she told him so intently that for a moment Shanks wondered if this was even the same child, “I’ll live, and be the freest person to ever roam the seas.”

Shanks stilled as he got an inkling of where this was going, and it was strange, looking down at this small, skinny little waif of a girl child, he could almost see the shape of his tall proud captain overlaid with hers as she smiled up at him, a fierce, wild, smile that was so much like Roger’s it made it hard to breathe.

“I’m going to be the pirate king!” she declared fiercely, her voice and the voice of his dead captain overlapping in his mind.

There was only one thing to do. Removing the straw hat from his head, the symbol of his captain’s will, he studied it for a moment, reliving all the memories good and bad he associated with the hat before jamming it firmly on to Ruby’s head. Seeing her with it on he realized it suited her, it suited her perfectly.

“I believe you,” he told her seriously, “So this is going to be the symbol of a promise, when you’re strong enough, with a crew of your own, when you’ve learned to live, come find me, come fight me, show me my faith in you isn’t misplaced, show me your will.”

“I promise,” Ruby vowed fiercely.

And then the moment was over, and Shanks had his arms full of emotional little girl, crying her heart out into his shirt, clutching him tightly. He soothed her as best he could holding her equally tight, taking a second to cherish the moment because this was it. He knew it was.

The start of a new era, one that could perhaps surpass Roger’s in its greatness, and this little girl in his arms, was going to be the one to bring it. He just had to give her the tools to do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it happened. I was totally not going to post any new stories until after I finished Heart of a Phoenix. Obviously that didn't happen as I posted a preview of this on Tumblr that blew up big time, and suddenly I was feeling really inspired, so here it is!  
> Let me know what you think, and feel free to follow me on Tumblr, where I will be posting previews of more plot bunnies ~~of which I have over a hundred sitting on my desktop right this moment~~ to get my creative juices flowing. Also let me know if there's a preview you want to see, the things I tend to write about are posted on my profile.  
>  I hope you liked it!


	2. Chapter 2

The sight of the Sea Dog approaching through the waves to Fuusha was a familiar one to her by now, though they always dropped anchor outside the harbor. Gramps was the only one outside of Bogard who ever came ashore, and Bogard only came when there was an emergency of some sort that required her Gramps back on the ship as soon as possible.

Her tradition from the time she’d been very small, probably just about two years old, had been to go out on to the largest dock to greet her Gramps’ rowboat as it approached the village. This time was no different, although she knew that once her Gramps took the time to get a really good look at her, all hell was going to break loose.

“Ru-chan!” her Gramps bellowed cheerfully as he hopped out of the little rowboat and pulled her into his arms in what would’ve been a backbreaking hug if he weren’t so careful with her.

“Gramps!” she greeted equally cheerful, because for all his faults, she knew her grandfather loved her, and wanted what was best for her. It wasn’t his fault what he’d thought was best had actually led to her death in the end.

Once he’d finished squeezing the life out of her and swinging her around a bit, he carefully set her back down on the dock. She could tell the minute he laid eyes on the hat, because his eyes got really wide, and he gaped for a minute before asking her, more discreetly than she’d previously thought possible for her boisterous grandfather, “Ru-chan where did you get that hat?”

It seemed it was show time.

“I got it from my friend Shanks!” she told him eagerly, “It’s my new most precious treasure!”

Which was true enough, though she could practically see the gears turning in his mind, and steam coming out his ears as he realized Red Haired Shanks the Yonko had been in the area and around his precious granddaughter. It had been like this last time too, and it had been this that had spurred Garp into continually nagging her until she’d agreed to join the Navy. However things would be different this time.

“And why did he give that hat to you?” he asked his tone surprisingly gentle.

“Because I’m going to be King of the Pirates!” she declared boldly, knowing it was better to get it over with now than to let him find out later. Though she was braced for it the fist of love still sent her hurtling to the ground and she winced. The one thing she’d not missed as she got older and advanced through the ranks of the Navy had been Garp’s fists of love.

“What did you say brat?!” Garp demanded angrily, though knowing him as well as she did and with the memories of her adult self she could see worry, and a bit of fear on his face as well. Her heart hurt for him, knowing he thought the Navy would be safe for her, that it would protect her, but also knowing he was wrong.

“I said I’m going to be King of the Pirates!” she repeated again even as she rubbed her sore head glaring back at him just as ferociously as he was glaring at her knowing that to show weakness now would have him steamrolling right over her. Her grandfather was a force of nature and she had to stand strong or be moved. This time she would stand strong, “And be the freest person in the world! I made a promise to Shanks! I will be Pirate King!”

“Wrong!” Garp told her giving her another fist of love, and even knowing he tempered them to keep from doing her any permanent damage it still had her eyes crossing for a second, “You’re going to train right up and become a strong marine!”

“I won’t!” she shouted back, equally as determined, “I’m gonna be a pirate, pirate, pirate _pirate!_ ”

“You will be a marine!” Garp corrected just as determined, “Marine, marine, _marine!_ ”

“Pirate!”

“Marine!”

“Pirate!”

“Marine!”

“Marine!”

“Pirate!”

“Ahah! I win!” Ruby shouted triumphantly, even as Garp thought back about what he said and growled in frustration. However nothing was going to change her mind.

Her Gramps tried every trick in the book, cajoling, shouting, punishing, bribing, he even tried begging at one point, and though her heart broke for her Gramps she held firm. Even a week into his visit she was still going strong, and she knew his time here had to be drawing to a close, after all he was a Vice Admiral and the Hero of the Navy, he wasn’t allowed to vacation for long.

“It seems leaving you here in Fuusha has made you too softheaded,” Garp informed her scooping her up by the back of her t-shirt and refusing to let go, “Makino! I’m taking the brat! I’ll be back!”

Her caretaker nodded, looking extremely anxious. She hadn’t involved herself in the fight between her and her grandfather, but Ruby knew the woman was on her side. It was for the best Makino stay out of it though, she didn’t want the poor woman caught up in the Monkey family’s drama. Plus as strong as she knew her guardian to be, she wasn’t up to taking on a D. like Garp.

“Where are you taking me?!” she demanded annoyed at being carted around like an errant kitten, “Put me down! I can walk by myself!”

“I’m taking you somewhere you can learn discipline, and that it would be best for you to become a strong marine!” Garp informed her, pointedly ignoring the request to be put down, knowing her well enough to guess she’d take off running given the chance.

She pouted but her Gramps stoically ignored her pout apparently too used to it by now for it to work, that or too determined to allow himself to be swayed. Either way she was stuck, so she crossed her arms and waited as Garp hiked through the forests and up Mt. Corvo.

On the way up she noted several predators shifting around in the trees, but none of them dared to approach Garp. She pouted fiercely in envy, having been chased all over by those same exact predators she was holding a bit of a grudge, glaring at the few daring enough to peek through the trees.

Taking a second to glance around she realized Garp was dragging her a lot further into the forest than she’d ever gone before. Curiosity took hold of her as she tried to figure out just where her Gramps was dragging her. Unfortunately once again the thinking made her head hurt and she didn’t come up with any answers.

She was more than a bit taken aback as a ramshackle wooden building finally came into view around the bend of the overgrown path. Even more interesting was the fact that she could hear people moving around inside. She huffed in surprise as Garp let her down and she landed on her rear, standing she brushed off the dust and eyed the building with open curiosity, wondering who would be crazy enough to live out here in the middle of nowhere with all the dangerous animals around.

Interested she stood and watched as Garp knocked steadily at the door, waiting for someone to answer. She could hear shuffling and a bit of shouting from within the building and tilted her head curiously in interest. Eventually the door was flung open and Ruby spent several minutes trying to decide if the person who’d answered was a man or a woman. She’d never been good at that kind of thing.

She was so caught up staring trying to figure it out that she didn’t even hear the conversation that was happening above her head until one of Garp’s heavy hands came down to rest gently on her head, ruffling her hair before pushing her forward urging, “Introduce yourself.”

“Yo!” she greeted casually, “I’m Monkey D. Ruby! Are you a man or a woman?”

The orange haired person who’d answered the door sputtered as the two men who’d joined them flanking the person gaped in shock. She frowned confused, glancing up at her Gramps to see if he knew what she’d said to cause that kind of reaction, however he just looked amused.

“You brat!” the person screeched after nearly choking on the cigarette poking through their thick lips, “I’m a woman damnit! A woman!”

“Oh,” Ruby replied with a nod, mystery solved, “Okay then.”

“Okay then? Okay then?” the confirmed woman parroted getting louder each time, “You…! Did you say Monkey D?”

“Yep!” Ruby agreed cheerfully with a bright smile unfazed by the sudden change in topic as the woman trailed off an expression that looked like a cross between shock, bafflement and sheer and utter horror on her ruddy face, “I’m Monkey D. Ruby! Who’re you?”

“D-Dadan,” the woman stuttered out automatically before shaking herself, “Never mind that if you’re a Monkey D. then, then Garp…?”

Ruby could see the woman glancing back and forth between her and her Gramps and she finally cottoned on to what she’s trying to say, “Oh Garp is my Gramps!”

The woman looked like she’s about to keel right over huffing and puffing and flailing, making strange choking, squawking noises that sounded like a dying chicken. Ruby stared at her concerned, not quite sure what to do about her.

“Garp is your grandfather?” the small man with the turban to the right repeated vaguely, a dazed slightly shell-shocked look on his face.

“That’s right,” Ruby confirmed, grasping hold of Garp’s pants she hauled herself up. She’d had a lot of practice climbing up on to her Gramps shoulders over the years, especially since she’d never actually grown very tall. Even wearing heels she’d been lucky to come up to her Gramps chest. He endured her clambering with amusement as she got to one of his broad shoulders and squished her face against his, “We look just the same see?!”

Garp laughed happily and dragged her off his shoulder, giving her another backbreaking squeeze, apparently forgetting for a moment that he was still unhappy with her for her new goal, patting her proudly on the head as he set her down, “That’s right! My little granddaughter, treat her right!”

“We can’t!” all three of them protested frantically as Ruby stared eyes wide with surprise. Seriously? These were the people her Gramps wanted her to stay and learn ‘discipline and to become a strong marine from?’ Honestly they didn’t look like much, she was fairly sure she could take them as she was. Unless they had some kind of special ability? They did live on Mt. Corvo so she wasn’t going to rule it out right away and even she was fairly skeptical.

“Come on Garp we’re having a hard enough time with Ace as it is! You can’t seriously expect as to take on another one,” Dadan pleaded unhappily.

She frowned as the name registered. Ace? Well it was a fairly common name she supposed. Did the woman already have a child then? Was that why Garp had brought her here? She’d never really been good about making friends with people her age, especially as a child, mostly because she was born stronger than the average child and had a hard time controlling her strength. She’d accidentally hurt a child more than once when she was younger. It had led her to be a little lonely in Fuusha, despite Makino’s best and loving efforts.

“You have two options,” Garp informed the trio pulling her from her thoughts, “Either spend the rest of your life in prison or raise her.”

Ruby stared up at her Gramps in surprise. He would arrest these people? And give them a life sentence? That had to mean they were criminals of some sort, her Gramps wasn’t the type to arrest innocents, and he wanted them to be her new caretakers? She was confused. Her Gramps wanted her to be taught to be a strong marine by criminals? Something just wasn’t adding up, she wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it was definitely off. Unfortunately thinking was giving her a headache again and she wished once more for her adult brain, that didn’t hurt so much before deciding that it wasn’t important enough to worry about, and that Gramps must know what he was doing.

“I’m starting to think jail is the better option,” Dadan moaned sadly, “Ace is bad enough, now you want me to take on another monster?”

So this Ace wasn’t her child then? Ruby frowned in confusion unaware of the adorable picture she made as she tilted her head to the side and pouted slightly trying to figure out who this Ace person was, a feeling of growing dread in her stomach that was becoming hard to ignore.

“You will take her,” Garp informed them flatly, “And you will turn her into a fine marine!”

“Okay,” Dadan squeaked apparently intimidated enough by her Gramps not to argue with him about it anymore as both her cohorts wilted beside her unhappily.

“Good!” Gramps told her with a laugh, “Now speaking of my grandson where is he?”

Grandson? Ruby startled in surprise, she didn’t know Garp had a grandson! Did she have a brother somewhere she’d never been told about? A brother whose name was apparently Ace…

“Ah, he just went out to hunt some dinner, he should be back at any…” one of the men, the taller one spluttered, then sighed in relief, “Oh look there he is now!”

Ruby turned along with her Gramps and stared, feeling the blood drain from her face as she tried to come to terms with what she was seeing. Most would probably have thought she was shocked about the absolutely enormous dead beast the slightly older child was sitting on, but frankly that wasn’t the case. She’d seen bigger and badder on the Grand Line. Others might think it was the fact that a child had downed the beast was the reason she was beginning to feel lightheaded, but that wasn’t it either.

It was his face, she recognized it. She knew that child. Not as a child, but as an adult, not staring defiantly down at them with a metal pipe in hand, but chained and utterly defeated on an execution scaffold, not with those cold hard eyes, but with tears and snot dribbling down his face as he begged for them to just kill him, to stop hurting his family, his brothers.

Even as different as he looked now she still would’ve recognized him anywhere. Portgas D. Ace, otherwise known as Gol D. Ace first and only child of the Pirate King. Blood was roaring in her ears as she tried to process what it was she was seeing, discreetly she pinched herself, hard enough to bleed to see if she could wake herself, nothing worked.

Her brain hurt so bad it felt like it was on fire as she tried to process this, because this was the man who’d been executed at Marineford, the man whose face had been engraved into her soul from the tragedy of his life and his senseless death. The man she’d been remembering as she stared out over the crowd of her fellow marines before her own execution. The man the world had hunted down and slaughtered like an animal for the blood in his veins, a sick foreshadowing of her own fate.

She knew that coming back to the past would mean seeing old faces both good and bad again, but Portgas D. Ace was the absolute last person she’d ever expected to run into. To think that he was here, in front of her right now. She couldn’t think, she could barely breathe her mind on overload.

She was seconds away from a major meltdown when a gentle familiar hand dropped down on her head grounding her slightly, and she stared wide-eyed up at her Gramps who was beaming down at her, “Ruby this is Ace, he’s three years older than you and he’s going to be your big brother from now on.”

Ruby nodded completely numb, not even paying any attention as Garp hugged her and left, or when Ace completely ignored her and Dadan dragged her inside the hut, too wrapped up in her thoughts despite the pounding in her brain. There were so many questions rolling through her mind it was hard to know where to begin.

Had Ace actually been here this whole time? Had he been raised here, the way Dadan had implied a stone’s throw away from Fuusha? From her? This entire time? Not just in this life, but in the Before? And her Gramps had known? He had to have known, Dadan had been grumbling about having Garp dump another brat on them, which meant her Gramps had brought Ace here.

She’d heard his story at the execution as Sengoku announced it to the world. How his mother had held her pregnancy for twenty long months to keep him safe from the purges in Baterilla. How he’d come to be in her Gramps care she didn’t know, she did know he had a history with Roger, being rivals of a sort, but that was about it.

However it would explain a lot of things, like the way her Gramps had sat on the execution platform during the war refusing to move, and his depression in the weeks afterward. At the time she’d thought he was mourning for the many lives lost during the War, the senseless slaughter on both sides, but now she was beginning to think differently.

Around her chaos reigned as the group in the hideout began to devour the food Dadan had evidently prepared. She stared down into the small bowl of rice Dadan had unceremoniously plunked in front of her, unable to even focus on the food her thoughts still tumbling over one another in a jumbled mess and her head positively pounding with the stress of it all.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a finger in her face, and she blinked up at the woman who’d thrust it there, completely surprised.

“Do you even know where you are now! Don’t just sit there and space out so casually!” the woman told her waving her finger in Ruby’s face. Honestly she was more than a little tempted to bite it. She’d done it before to people who’d done the same thing to her, but decided she probably shouldn’t for now.

“You’re with the Dadan Family of mountain bandits!” Dadan announced a menacing grin on her face.

“I _hate_ mountain bandits,” Ruby bit out with a snarl, sending the other woman reeling back in surprise as images of Higuma and his thugs danced in front of her eyes. Of him pistol-whipping Makino across the face, and earlier from another the Before of him stealing her and threatening to sell her to slavers. How his cruelty had cost Shanks his arm that time.

Dadan gulped as she noticed the red sheen to the mahogany eyes of the girl-child sitting in front of her. It was an intimidating sight, even in the young body, still this was her home and she was laying down the law damnit!

“From now on you’ll have to work for your food! One glass of water and a bowl of rice a day, that’s all I’ll give you, and you’ll have to do chores and…” her voice became a dull murmur in the background as Ruby tuned her out, her attention refocusing on the child who’d sent her into a tailspin earlier.

He was wolfing down his meal in true D. style and her curiosity was finally beginning to overcome her shock as she pushed down the thoughts she didn’t want to think about anymore and instead focused on the child she’d been introduced to. He didn’t seem anything at all like the man who’d been on the execution platform, the one who obviously adored the Whitebeards the way they adored him. This child seemed far more hostile and closed off than the man she’d known if only at a distance.

“Are you listening to me brat?” Dadan screeched jolting her from her thoughts, the woman was clearly at the end of her tether.

Ruby just shrugged, “I can take care of myself. After all as a future pirate it would be sad if I couldn’t at least feed myself right?”

“You’re not going to cry or whine or sniffle? Not even a bit?” the orange haired woman demanded dazed, but Ruby wasn’t listening anymore, all of her attention on Ace.

Seeing him get up, she felt her curiosity taking hold of her and not letting go she rose to her feet to follow, “Anyway thanks for the food! Bye!”

“You can’t just…” Dadan trailed off helplessly, only to notice she was speaking to empty air, Ruby was already gone.

“Did anyone else hear her say she was going to be a pirate?” Dogra asked unhappily. 

“Garp told us to raise her into a marine,” Magra added slowly.

As one the bandits of Mt. Corvo slipped to the floor with an air of gloom, “We’re doomed.”

…~oO*Oo~…

“Hey! Hey wait up!” Ruby called as she trotted after Ace into the forest, “Where are you going?!”

He paused at the top of a hill and glanced back at her, and for a moment she thought he’d stopped to wait for her, until she caught a look at his eyes. She’d seen a lot of terrible things during her years as a marine, including a lot of hurt children, but never anything quite like the look on this ten-year-old.

The next thing she knew a tree was rolling right at her having been kicked completely over by the boy in an impressive show of strength. Her first instinct was to just let it hit her, she was rubber after all, it wouldn’t hurt, and then she suddenly remembered that no, no in fact she wasn’t rubber at all, not anymore anyway.

Panicked she sprinted for cover and only just managed to dive for safety grabbing a tree branch overhead and swinging herself up on to it. Panting for breath adrenalin still high at her near scare she realized Ace was nowhere to be seen. Frowning she determinedly headed off in the direction he had been going. Her curiosity hadn’t been assuaged yet, she wanted to know more about him and the first step in that was figuring out where he was going.

The first indication that things weren’t going to go as planned was when upon catching up to him he knocked her straight off the bridge, and right into the pack of wolves she’d met while training with Shanks in Conqueror’s Haki that first day. Wolves, who were apparently in a rather vengeful frame of mind from what had happened the last time they met.

As she sprinted down the length of the valley with the wolves on her heels between spewing curses at Ace for kicking her down here, her Gramps for leaving her with bandits and Shanks for making her promise not to use her Conqueror’s Haki she swore she was going to figure this out if it was the last thing she ever did.

…~oO*Oo~…

After several failed attempts, that involved crocodiles, falling boulders and one memorable experience with a beehive Ruby sat down and actually thought about what to do. In the marines she’d learned that sometimes if things didn’t work rushing in then you had to sit down and make plans. She hated it. It was a last resort for her, but she didn’t want to waste too much more time on her curiosity when she could be training, even if following Ace had been a kind of training all its own.

Eventually she figured out that if she wasn’t being so blatant about her attempts to follow, he probably wouldn’t be so fierce in his attempts to turn her back. Sneaky wasn’t a thing that Ruby was period, but she knew enough to get by. Or at least enough to get away with following a ten-year-old kid, even if he did send some rather suspicious glances back over his shoulder.

She was barely able to repress her smile as he led her straight to the edge of the forest. There she paused, glancing around. She’d heard of this place in the Before, but never seen it in person. Her Gramps had called it the Grey Terminal, the lawless zone outside of Goa Kingdom where the nobles lived. It was also the place the residents dumped their trash.

Still seeing it in person was entirely different than hearing about it. For one hearing about it didn’t include smelling it. She coughed and brought her hand to her nose in a fruitless attempt to block the stench of it. It smelled like rot, sewage, and unwashed human. She gagged a bit, eyes watering and wondered if people had just gotten used to the smell, or it she was just too sensitive.

Glancing around she smacked herself in the face as she realized she’d lost Ace entirely, too caught up in the nausea brought along by the smell of the place. Pouting she tried to reach out with Observation Haki, to see if she could find him. Unfortunately she’d noticed since coming back to the past that her Observation was much, much weaker than it had been before and her Armament was nonexistent, which meant picking up on Ace from a distance of more than a foot away was a hopeless endeavor.

She tried it anyway, pushing her limits as far as they could go hoping for a glimpse of something, anything at all really, and while she didn’t pick up on Ace, she did get something interesting. Curiously she climbed up into the trees and carefully made her way to the only other person lurking on the edge of the forest about a stones throw away from her wondering who it might be. Doing her best to remain sneaky she carefully approached, following the person who seemed to be moving swiftly through the trees.

She didn’t catch a glimpse of them until they pulled to a stop in one of the trees. Peering out from behind a leafy cover she was surprised to find a kid, someone who was just a little bit older than she was right now. 

He was dressed rather oddly in a blue coat that looked like it might’ve been fancy at some point in time but was now stained and torn, with the strange white napkin she’d sometimes seen fancier people wear tied around his neck. He was also wearing a top hat with goggles on the brim, and had a long metal pipe in his hand that had several rusty stains on it that looked suspiciously like dried blood.

In his hands he was holding a small sack and as she watched he carefully eased open a rather cleverly concealed hatch in the tree. Leaning slightly precariously from her perch she gasped in surprise as she saw it was filled to the brim with gold and beli.

Her noise apparently caught the blonde’s attention because he whirled around, hurriedly slamming the door shut and twirling his pipe in his hands, glaring threateningly out into the forest, “Who’s there?! Come out!”

Ruby pursed her lips in thought trying to decide if she wanted to come out or not. She was pretty curious about the strange blond child and so on one hand coming out might get some of her questions answered, on the other hand she was supposed to be looking for Ace, figuring out what he was doing when he disappeared from Dadan’s every day, then getting to her training. Stumped and unsure, she was beginning to lean towards coming out, her nosiness overcoming her common sense when the bushes rustled on the ground.

Shrinking back into the tree, she nearly fell out of it as the person she’d been looking for emerged from the bushes. She was wondering if she should be concerned for one or the other of the two boys when the blond relaxed and grinned down at Ace, who grinned back. She was so shocked she actually had to double take, because it was the first non-hostile expression she’d seen on the boy’s face.

The blonde casually hefted his pipe over his shoulder and grinned back revealing a prominent missing tooth, “Ace it’s just you! I thought someone had found our spot for a second.”

“You worry too much Sabo,” Ace told him hopping effortlessly into the tree to join the blonde who was obviously his friend, “None of the people from Gray Terminal would dare venture out here, they’re too afraid of the animals.”

“That’s true, but what about that girl you told me about? Did she follow you today? You did lose her right?” the blonde, evidently named Sabo asked with a frown.

“That weakling?” Ace scoffed, and it took all of Ruby’s hard learned Navy discipline to not leap right out of the tree and whack him one at his clear dismissal of her, “She didn’t bother today, guess she finally wimped out.”

“That’s good,” Sabo told him relieved, “So did you get anything good for the pirate fund today?”

Ruby raised a brow in surprise. She’d known Ace was going to be a pirate, she hadn’t realized he’d wanted it from such a young age though.

“Not much, pretty slim pickings,” Ace revealed pulling a small bag from his pocket with a shrug, “Still better than nothing.”

“Right,” Sabo agreed pulling open the trap door again and to let Ace deposit his contribution, “Still we’re doing well! Our five years of treasure from pillaging and scavenging in the Grey Terminal, soon we’ll have enough and we can set off! Finally get out of this place, and see the world!”

“Yeah,” Ace agreed a surprisingly soft smile on his face as he gazed into the distance, “Soon.”

Looking at the two of them Ruby could tell there was a special bond between them, and for a wild moment she found herself inexorably jealous. This, _this_ was what she was looking for friends, companions who would have her back, who wouldn’t leave her alone, kneeling on a cold platform staring out into a sea of impassive faces as steel bit into her neck.

First though she needed to get strong enough to make her way out into the world to find such a thing. Glancing one last time at the two boys, feeling satisfied she had her answers, and more than a little lonely, she carefully snuck away heading back towards Dadan’s and the beasts of Mt. Corvo. She had training to do.

…~oO*Oo~…

Ace watched with narrowed eyes as the girl dragged the enormous carcass of one of the mountain boars into the clearing around the bandit's hut and shouted to Dadan that she wanted food. He wasn't sure what he thought about the strange, serious little girl, but he knew it was nothing good.

At first he'd thought she was a weakling. After all she hadn't even lasted a week trying to chase him through the forests to the Grey Terminal before she'd given up. True he hadn't been making it easy for her, and he didn't actually want her to catch up to him, but the fact that she'd given up so easily was just another strike against her.

The first had been that she was shitty Gramps actual grandchild. She wasn't a cast off, or an unwanted burden, she was Garp’s' blood family, and it was pretty obvious the way the old man had acted when he dropped her off that he adored her, hugging her and patting her on the head proudly, asserting that he would miss her when he left. He never did any of that stuff with Ace, and if he'd even tried he would've bitten the old man's hand off, stupid old man.

The second was that she looked so pathetic. She was obviously a wimp with her shiny dark hair, big brown eyes and small stature. She reminded him of a bunny. He hated bunnies, they were stupid and cowardly and they didn't even fill him up a bit when he tried once to hunt them down and eat them.

The third was that she was encroaching on his space. For as long as he remembered the little room in the bandit's shack had been his and his alone, but the first night Dadan had stuffed her in there right along with him. He'd been disgusted, moving as far away from her as he could in the small room absolutely seething with rage.

Why did she have to come here? Obviously she'd had someone else taking care of her before this, someone who probably fawned over, pampered, and spoiled her so why couldn't she go back to them? He didn't want her here, and he tried to make it clear in everything he did, refusing to acknowledge even her, leaving the room whenever she entered, and not deigning to speak a single word to the little princess brat.

However it didn't seem to bother her at all. She seemed to be ignoring him just as much as he was ignoring her. From what he heard from the gossipy bandits she left about the same time he did every day. None of them were exactly sure what she was doing out there in the wilds, but she tended to come back with cuts and bruises looking absolutely exhausted. The only things she did when she came back were bathe, stuff her face with the food she made Dadan cook for her, and fall right into the little bedroll in their shared room.

Sabo had been sympathetic to his complaints, but figured since she was no longer following him and essentially out of their hair it wasn't a big deal. He'd grumbled a bit at that, but figured Sabo was probably right as usual. He'd been content to leave things along then but...

He gave the boar another glance and frowned. It was almost as big as the one he'd brought home the day of her arrival. He knew those things were extremely tough, wild, and dangerous, and while he wasn't sure how she brought one down he knew it couldn't have been easy. Still as he eyed the tiny form of the girl, with her straw hat and pink dress he figured it was probably just a fluke. With a sneer he promised himself that tomorrow for dinner he would bring home a gator, much more difficult to get than a boar, after all it wouldn't do for a wimp like her to show him up.

...~oO*Oo~...

Dadan watched the two little Ds tear into the pile of meat with a ferocity that rivaled wild dogs, with her bandits watching on, careful to stand well back lest they be bitten or attacked by the two terrors. Luckily there was more than enough meat to go around even with two Ds to feed. She wasn't sure how or why but for some reason lately Ace had been bringing back an excess of meat, carting home some of the biggest and baddest beasts on the mountain. Combined with Ruby's own kills it was more than enough to feed them all.

Truthfully Ruby wasn't nearly as much trouble as she expected from the child of Garp. For one she actually knew how to use the doors the way they were meant to be used, and two she was never around. The surprisingly serious little girl basically disappeared into the forest all day by herself, doing who knows what, only coming back to eat and sleep.

The first few times she'd done it Dadan had more than half expected the little girl to come crying to them about her injuries, cuts, bruises and the like, and had been ready to ream her out for her stupidity. After all Mt. Corvo was a dangerous place and not somewhere to run around wildly. Ace was a different matter, born strong and wild and headstrong, he'd been accidentally breaking bones by the time he was three.

However the little girl, who when she wasn't glaring demonically, looked like a sweet innocent little doll, hadn't come to her or complained at all. Instead she'd simply raided their medicine stores and fixed her own cuts, rather impressively for a seven year old, completely ignoring them all. All in all she was the most serious little girl Dadan had ever seen, and she was starting to wonder if it was just a thing for all Ds to be terrifying and unnerving. Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft noise, one she didn't recognize.

Purupurupuru

Purupurupuru

Purupurupuru

All the bandits were glancing around wondering where the noise was coming from when little Ruby's head shot up. Hurriedly she grabbed the small satchel she carried with her everywhere and began digging through it completely abandoning her meal, something complete unheard of for either of the two Ds. Nothing could interrupt the twos focus on food, the bandits had tried, to often terrifying results before giving it up as a bad job. That Ruby would stop for this sound was intriguing to say the least.

Dadan's eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline as the little girl finally pulled out the source of the noise. A Denden Mushi. What was the girl doing with a Denden Mushi? Standing the girl hurriedly left the room with the still ringing Denden outside. As she did so a terrible thought occurred to her. What if it was Garp who'd given her the snail? What if he was checking in on her? On how the bandits were treating her and her progress at becoming a strong marine? Horrified Dadan hurried for the door, hoping to find a way to pry the snail out of the girl's hands and beg for mercy with her bandits at her heels. However, just inside the door she heard the girl answer, "Hello this is Ruby! I'm gonna be the pirate king!"

A small part of her withered and died as she realized all hope was lost. Garp was officially going to murder them, he wasn't even going to throw them in jail. He was just going to flat out beat them to death.

She was shocked when instead of the furious yelling she'd expected in response to the girl's proclamation hearty laughter filled the air instead, laughter that she didn't recognize at all. Carefully easing open the door she peered out, spotting Ruby leaning up against one of the nearby trees with the snail speaker to her mouth and a bright smile on her face.

The smile was enough to knock her back on her heels. The little girl hadn't actually smiled once since Garp had dumped her here, and yet there she was practically beaming as she talked to the snail.

"Hello anchor did you miss me?" the voice asked cheerfully, so obviously not Garp that she nearly fell over in relief.

"Not a bit!" Ruby proclaimed sticking her tongue out at the Denden, "And stop calling me anchor! I can swim now!"

"Oh yes I'm sure it's a very impressive doggy paddle anchor," the voice told her teasingly, provoking a surprisingly adorable pout from the little girl.

"Mean!" she shouted angrily, "Mean, mean, mean, be nice to me or I'll tell Makino!"

"Yeah right anchor, how is my favorite bartender anyway?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know," Ruby admitted a bit sadly.

"What do you mean you don't know?" the man on the other end of the Denden asked seriously, all hints of teasing gone from his voice.

"I mean I haven't gotten to see Makino in a while now. I'm trying, but I can't seem to find my way out of this stupid forest! I keep getting lost, and those stupid beasts you won't let me knockout keep trying to attack or chase me," the girl whined unhappily, "I keep beating them up, but they won't leave me alone! So I started eating them instead."

"Ruby what are you doing in the forest? Are you lost? Do you need help?" another different male voice piped up concerned.

"My gramps dumped me here," Ruby informed them with a pout, "He didn't like it that I want to be pirate King so he took me in the forest and made bandits take care of me. He said it would make me a strong marine and that the village was too soft on me."

"He put you with bandits to learn how to be a strong marine?" a new male voice asked incredulously. Dadan nodded her head in agreement, tears leaking out of her eyes, it was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard of too, and she didn't understand it either.

"Are they being nice to you Ru-chan? We don't need to come teach them a lesson do we?" the first male voice asked concerned.

"Please! I'm more than a match for some stupid bandits!" Ruby insisted making Dadan slump to the floor. The kid was probably right, if she could take on the wild beasts with ease in this forest she could probably take them too especially since they didn't dare seriously injure her lest Garp come down with his fist of justice, but she didn't have to be so blunt about it!

"Yeah well, if they give you any trouble Ruby let us know, we'll take care of them, no bandit is a match for the Red Hair pirates!" the first man exclaimed eliciting an excited cheer from his end of the Denden that made Ruby giggle happily.

Inside Dadan was pretty sure this was what a heart attack felt like. She was going to die, she was sure of it, the little brat was on extremely good terms with a Yonko and his crew. Just when she thought Garp was the biggest menace in her life, here came a Yonko just as ready to exterminate her and her bandits if anything happened to the little brat.

"Anyway Ru-chan how's training going?" Shanks, Dadan knew it had to be Shanks asked.

She listened as the girl began babbling away about her adventures on the mountain and the things she'd gotten up to. Glancing around she could see her bandits had crowded around to eavesdrop too, and were looking just as desperate and doomed as she felt. Why oh why couldn't she have stayed on the right side of the law? Or at least out of Garp's path? The stress of taking care of these brats was going to put her in an early grave she was sure of it.

"And living Ruby?" Shanks asked seriously snapping Dadan out of her self-pitying internal rant, "Are you living?"

"Well I mean my adventures are kind of fun?" Ruby answered hesitantly, "But how am I supposed to go about that here? I mean how do I live?"

"You could try making friends?" one of the other voices offered.

"With mountain bandits? Really Yasopp?" Ruby asked echoing Dadan's own dismay at the thought, she couldn't imagine the havoc the girl would wreak trying to 'make friends' besides hadn't she said... "I _hate_ mountain bandits."

Yeah that, that was definitely an obstacle in Red Hair's plan, and just what the hell was he trying to do with the girl anyway? Telling her to live? She was alive wasn't she? Dadan would've noticed if she'd died.

"Okay so not mountain bandits, but what about kids your age?" another male voice asked, this one deep, calm and reasonable.

"But Benn, other kids don't like me. I'm too strong. I hurt them accidentally when we play," Ruby admitted downtrodden, "Besides I'm supposed to be making strong friends to be my nakama! We don't have anyone like that here..."

"Not even one?" the one called Benn prompted, evidently picking up on her hesitation. Dadan immediately knew who she was talking about. Ace too had problems controlling his strength, honestly the two would've been good playmates when they were younger, but now Ace was far too bitter and angry to let anyone like the naive little Ruby past his walls.

"There is one, but I'm pretty sure he hates me," Ruby admitted sheepishly, "I followed him for a little bit when I got here because he was interesting, but then I saw he was just going to the Gray Terminal near Goa Kingdom to beat up thugs for money and decided my training was more important."

Dadan nearly fainted in shock. She'd known the girl had been following Ace, but the little brat had actually succeeded in trailing him all the way to the Gray Terminal? That she hadn't expected at all.

"Hates you? Why would he hate you?" Yasopp prompted obviously confused, and apparently deciding to focus on that part of the admission, not realizing the way Dadan did what a major accomplishment something like that was for a seven-year-old child.

"I don't know," Ruby told them with a shrug they wouldn't be able to see, "Maybe because I exist?"

Dadan was pretty sure that was supposed to be some kind of joke, admittedly not one she was expecting a seven-year-old to make, but a joke nonetheless. The dead silence on the other end of the Denden told her otherwise though.

"Monkey D. Ruby, don't you ever, _ever_ say something like that about yourself ever again," Shanks commanded, the ferocity in his voice sending a frisson of fear down Dadan's spine. Ruby however was completely unmoved, and Dadan wasn't sure if it was because she was invulnerable and brave or just really, really stupid.

"Why not? Best to get used to people hating me for my existence early right?" she asked losing the smile she'd been wearing for most of the conversation, her face pulling into a sad frown. The snail heaved a sigh, looking just as unhappy as Ruby.

"That's no way to go about living little anchor," Shanks told her unhappily, "Tell you what, you think about befriending that boy okay? And to cheer you up one of us will be by in a week. Which means you have to find your way back to Fuusha by then. You'd better be waiting alright?"

"I'll try to befriend Ace," Ruby told him a dubious expression, mimicking exactly what Dadan was feeling, honestly she really thought the poor girl had no chance in hell, despite the fact that she wished it were otherwise, "And I will find my way to Fuusha! I can't wait to see you guys again!"

"We don't know who we're sending yet," Shanks cautioned though the Denden was smiling again, mimicking the one on Ruby's face, "But we can't wait to see you either. Be good little anchor!"

"I will! and don't call me that!" Ruby shouted annoyed, promptly hanging up on the man, and carefully tucking the Denden back into her bag, heading back for the shack. Quickly Dadan scrambled away from the door and back to the eating space, with her bandits at her heels hoping Ruby hadn't noticed them eavesdropping. She was surprised to see that Ace had disappeared sometime, though that wasn't really too surprising considering all the meat was gone. 

Heaving a sigh she made her way to the kitchen prepared to cook more, since neither the bandits nor Ruby had actually finished eating, and while she cooked she pondered on the situation with Red Hair. He said he was coming soon right? She just had to hope he stayed far away from her and the other bandits, otherwise they were doomed.

...~oO*Oo~...

Ace hadn't meant to eavesdrop. In fact the minute the bandits had disappeared he'd taken to gorging himself, intent on eating everything they'd left behind, serve them right for abandoning it just to listen to the shitty old man coo at his real grandchild with the special Denden Mushi he'd given her. Absolutely fuming Ace had stuffed the last bit into his mouth and grabbed his pipe to head out. He didn't want to stay here tonight.

He was going back to Gray Terminal. Sabo wouldn't mind. His blond friend had invited him more than once to stay over or even stay permanently, stating that his mountain training was a waste of time and energy. He was starting to think he should take him up on the offer, not like the stupid bandits would notice, not with the stupid little girl to fuss over.

Once outside he'd been intending to sprint away, but the sound of a voice he'd never heard before made him pause, that wasn't shitty Gramps. Annoyance warred with curiosity, and eventually curiosity won out. Shimmying his way up a tree he carefully stalked toward the stupid girl, trying to figure out who she was talking to on the transponder snail.

He was more than a little surprised to hear them announce they were the Red Hair pirates. He'd never heard of them, but still that the wuss was friends with an older pirate crew surprised him a lot, enough that he'd stayed to listen, despite telling himself that the Red Hair pirates were probably as stupid and wimpy as the little girl.

He'd been taken aback when the conversation had turned in his direction, though he noted that she had surprisingly had the same problems he had once had, being too strong for others. Ace hadn't realized the wuss thought he hated her; he was more than a bit surprised honestly. He didn't hate her; his hate was reserved for one man and one man only. He just really, really disliked her is all.

That she'd actually succeeded in following him to the Gray Terminal grated on his nerves. He'd thought she'd given up; apparently she'd simply got what she wanted and got bored. His fingers tightened angrily on his staff. Honestly his first thought had been that she was lying about actually making it, but then she wouldn't have known what he was doing there is she had. He was starting to think he'd underestimated her. Between this and the fact that she was able to kill some of the most dangerous animals on the mountain he was forced to admit he might've been wrong, which was completely and utterly galling.

Despite all the surprises he'd been handed while eavesdropping on her conversation, the biggest one had been when she'd said she should 'get used to people hating her for existing' it had struck a chord in him and made him extremely uncomfortable. What the hell had she meant by that? Why would people hate her? What kind of secrets did the stupid girl have?

All this thinking and questioning was driving him nuts. He needed answers, and only one person had them, the girl herself. He was going to get those answers from her. Again his fingers tightened almost painfully on his staff, one way or another she was going to tell him what she had meant!

Figuring his best course of action was to wait in their room until she came to sleep and ambush her, knowing that if he tried to beat the answers out of her now the bandits would likely try to intervene and get in the way, he waited until all of them headed back inside, then swung down from the tree and snuck back into the room the shared through the small window before settling in to wait.

...~oO*Oo~...

Ruby had been extremely happy to hear from Shanks and the rest, and even more happy to hear that someone was coming to see her soon. Truth be told while her training had been progressing at a decent pace she'd been starting to feel more than a bit lonely. She missed them, and Makino, and Fuusha, hell she even missed the crusty old mayor Whoop Slap, which was why she was determined to make it back there sometime within the next couple of days.

She figured Garp had told Makino something when he'd gone back, but she knew her caretaker well. The kind, loving green haired woman was probably fretting up a storm and would continue to do so until she saw for herself that Ruby was safe and sound.

She was so caught up in her thoughts, that if not for her Observation Haki, the metal pole that came out of nowhere would've smacked her in the head hard enough to make her see stars. As it was she only just managed to dodge last second, and it came down on her shoulder instead. Cursing she tucked and rolled coming up on the balls of her feet, and spotting her attacker.

Ace was there, with a ferocious scowl on his face, wielding the metal pole he seemed to favor. Confused she frowned, she'd thought they'd settled into mutual ignoring of the other. Another swing of the staff assured her that apparently she was wrong. She wasn't just about to let him beat up on her though.

Angrily she threw herself at him with a yell, grabbing hold of the metal pole so he couldn't continue to whack her with it. The two of them went down in a tangle of limbs, wrestling over control of the weapon, rolling into walls and crates, kicking, scratching, punching and biting at each other as they rolled around the floor. Ace was growling at her like an animal, and she was cursing him back, practically snarling herself.

She was a little surprised the bandits didn't try to intervene, until she remembered that when she was leaving the room the group had been well into their cups. Apparently learning she was on good terms with Shanks was more than they could handle without alcohol, or at least that's what Dogra had told her.

A particular vicious hit clipped her eye and she retaliated by biting down hard on his shoulder. Maybe it was a dirty move, but he was pulling her hair so she felt they were more than even. Plus she wasn't planning on being a Marine this time where moves like that would be scolded so what did she care? Hell she hadn't even cared then, biting more than one of her opponents over the years. It always surprised the hell out of them, and gave her the upper edge.

Ace however seemed to shake it off, baring his teeth at her in turn. Eventually the metal pole was lost in the scuffle, but the two of them continued to wrestle, attempting to knock the other unconscious. Unfortunately Ruby could feel her limbs beginning to weaken. She was a bit surprised Ace had lasted so long. She had a bit of an unfair advantage after all with her natural strength and Observation Haki which allowed her to dodge some of the more devastating hits, but it seemed Ace was equally strong, stronger even than she was, and it was giving him an edge. Luckily he seemed to be tiring too, each hit had less power to it than the last until the two of them slumped, unable to even lift their arms or struggle anymore, collapsing into a tangled pile.

"What was that for jerk?" Ruby gasped out unable to move and trying to catch her breath. It was the hardest fight she'd had to date and she was absolutely exhausted.

"None of your business wuss," Ace snarled, or at least attempted to snarl, it lost all of its potential viciousness when he had to stop and pant in between words, "Get off me!"

"You get off me! And don't call me wuss, stupid!" she attempted to hiss back, annoyed.

"I'm not stupid, weakling," Ace puffed wriggling weakly but not going anywhere."

"Idiot"

"Pathetic"

"Asshole"

"Crybaby"

On it went as they both tried to wriggle free of the other, desperately trying to get as far away from the other as possible, but completely unsuccessful with both their limbs feeling like lead weights their name-calling degenerating into caveman grunts as they lost the energy to form words. Eventually both children dropped off into an exhausted sleep, still tangled together in an ungraceful pile.

When Dadan drunkenly checked on them later, sloshed out of her mind, she was shocked to see the two of them cuddled up close to one another. Rubbing her eyes she shut the door to their room behind her, the noise not disturbing the two sleeping children a bit, and deciding she'd had more than enough alcohol for the night. After all it was making her hallucinate. No way in hell would Ace be cuddled up to the girl, it was completely impossible.

Lumbering into her own bed she told herself to dream of sweet things like robbing nobles, rich food, and drowning in beli, and not have nightmares about Garp, Red Hair, or those two terrible D. brats. Yeah she didn't think it was going to work either. She was in for a terrible night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Back from my little break and here's a chapter! I know it's not the AUs, but I figured this one had been waiting longer, so please don't be too mad? I hope you liked it! I know a lot of you were looking forward to this chapter and the Ace interaction! I hope he wasn't too OOC!
> 
> Also so you know. I've decided that the way I was updating before was too much. It was taking up a lot of time and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to get things done within the week and it was stressing me out. So for that and other reasons ~~like not being able to have a life lol~~ instead of updating pretty much everything trading off weekends. I promise I will update _at least _one thing every Sunday, though what it will be will depend on my mood and I will still try to do the AUs two at a time (since i really can't do all four it's WAY too much)__


	3. Chapter 3

When Ruby woke she was warm and comfortable, her body was still a little sore, but she was cushioned in a way that made her not want to move. Laying with her eyes still closed to block out any potential light, she tried to drift back to sleep, breathing in time with the steady rise and fall of her pillow.

It took her a second, but when she finally realized her eyes snapped open in shock. Her pillow was moving, not just moving, but breathing. The events of the night before rushed in as she remembered Shanks' call, and then her fight with Ace, over what she still didn't know, and then being to exhausted afterwards to move. Which meant that her comfy pillow was more than likely her former opponent.

Horrified she jerked upwards, or at least she tried. Unfortunately her attempt was stopped by the grip he had on her. Taking a moment she realized that sometime in the night, the two of them must've cuddled up to each other seeking heat. She'd had her cheek resting on Ace's chest, and an arm under his neck, with the other tucked under his arms, which were wrapped securely around her shoulders.

Grimacing she wriggled, fighting the grip as best she could, and finally managing to slither out of his hold. Ace slept through it all, snoring peacefully not a bit disturbed. Heaving a sigh of relief she trudged towards the door, going to seek bandages for the small injuries Ace had left on her during their scuffle. 

Pausing by the door, she glanced back at the boy and watched as he wrapped is arms around himself and shivered slightly, apparently missing her heat a troubled expression on his freckled face that had been peaceful before. The look on his face tugged on her heartstrings, and slowly she moved back over to him, carefully taking a blanket, which had been thoroughly dislodged by her departure, and draping it over his still form.

She watched for a second feeling rather proud of herself as the troubled expression eased off his face, and he latched on to the cover, sleeping peacefully once more, before turning away to get back to her mission.

The bandits were passed out along the hallway and in the living area, snoring away, having apparently had too much alcohol last night to successfully make it back to their rooms. She dodged around them careful not to step on anyone before locking herself in the bathroom and beginning to tend her injuries, with the aid of the sole and treasured mirror in the shack, which was hung carefully on the wall.

As she worked on herself she tried to think, doing her best to ignore any pain brought on by said action. Why the hell had Ace attacked her last night? He'd never answered her and she was beyond curious, after all it had been a couple of weeks since her arrival and they'd been successfully ignoring each other so far, so what had changed?

She wasn't sure, and she didn't know how to go about obtaining answers other than asking Ace himself. Unfortunately considering how hostile he'd been she really doubted he'd be up to answering her, which left her with a mystery. It also left her with the dilemma of trying to befriend him the way she'd promised Shanks. She'd been hesitant to try before he'd attacked her, now that he had she was even more wary. How was she supposed to befriend someone who'd disliked her pretty much on first sight?

Which led her to the question of why. Why was Ace so aggressive and unhappy? Sure the bandits weren't exactly the best caretakers in the world, and they'd probably tried to teach him to be tough the way Dadan had tried with her, her first night, but that didn't explain the intense hatred or the pain in his eyes from the day that they'd first met.

He wasn't like any child she'd ever met before, not the ones who'd had their homes destroyed by pirates, not the ones whose families had been killed, not even the handful of slave children she'd had the misfortune of seeing during her time in the marines had eyes like Ace's, which meant he was different somehow but how?

She frowned unhappily trying to work through it. Ace was a D, but so was she so that couldn't be it. She might've thought he was lonely, but he had Sabo and he should've welcomed her then, so that couldn't be it either. Trying to remember what she knew about the man from the Before had the day of his death flashing before her eyes again.

On that day she'd been right up close to the action, standing with her grandfather and Sengoku on the execution platform, so she'd gotten to see Portgas D. Ace right up close and personal. The look on his face as he begged for death, trying to tell his crew he wasn't worth their sacrifices had haunted her nightmares until the day she died. The look of self-hatred on his face and in his words had broken her heart, which was why she'd refused to move that day to fight the Whitebeard Pirates even when Sengoku had ordered her to.

As she compared the Ace of then to the Ace of now the light bulb went on and she finally recognized the look in his face for exactly what it was, self-hatred. Little Ace, only ten years old already hated himself, and was lashing out at everyone around him in an attempt to deal with the pain. How the hell was that possible? She wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but even she knew that, that kind of suffering and those kind of feelings shouldn't ever be felt by a child that young unless something was really _really_ wrong. 

Her stomach felt hollow as she realized the most likely reason for the self-hatred. He knew. Ace knew who his father was, worse, he knew how the majority of the world felt about his father, their hatred, their fear, he knew about all of it, and had reflected those feelings towards his father on to himself, the same way Akainu had blamed her for her father's actions, Ace was feeling the blame for Roger's.

She ached as she realized that no one had been here to tell Ace that it wasn't his fault, that he wasn't Roger and that he was an innocent child. No one had comforted him, or encouraged him. The bandits likely either didn't know, or weren't fans of Roger themselves, most people weren't, and her Gramps relationship with Roger was complicated and even if it wasn't he simply wasn't around often enough to offer the support Ace needed.

Ace wasn't like her, who had found out about Dragon as an adult and realized that nothing he did should be reflected on her because she had no influence on him whatsoever. He was a child, with a child's mentality and no one to tell him otherwise. He was what she could've so easily been if she'd found out about her sperm donor as a child in the Before.

He was a child, an innocent child who'd been badly wronged, by herself, by her Gramps, by the bandits, by the world. Her heart went out to him, and she decided then and there that she would do her best to support him as best she could. She wasn't sure she'd be able to befriend him, guarded and hurting as he was, but she would damn sure try, the Whitebeard Pirates had obviously done it, so she should be able to as well right?

Her happy thoughts punctured as she remembered that she'd never actually had a real friend before, not even among the Marines, otherwise someone would've tried to rescue her, which meant she had no clue how to go about befriending anyone, let alone someone as prickly as Ace. She slumped unhappily. She'd still try though, it was the least she could do to ease the guilt she still felt even years after his death in Marineford. Glancing down at the first aid kit in her hands she realized she had the perfect way to start.

...~oO*Oo~...

Ace woke, far warmer and more comfortable than he'd expected to be after falling asleep last night unable to move because he was so exhausted. Sitting up and glancing around he realized the wuss was nowhere to be found. Anger pooled in his gut as he realized she'd managed to wake before him and escape before he could force her to answer his questions.

Furiously he jumped to his feet determined to find her and beat answers out of her, and pay her back for falling asleep on top of him, the stupid weakling! He nearly tore apart the room searching, but eventually he found his pipe where it had been tossed in a corner and hidden under some broken crates, and was determined to hunt the girl down but paused as he realized something strange was going on.

After fighting the way he had yesterday he should be hurting a lot more than he was now, grudgingly he admitted the wimp had gotten in a couple of good shots, though he thought biting him was a dirty move, it had worked. 

He'd thought about biting himself in the past, but after the first couple of times biting a person in Grey terminal he'd quickly learned his lesson, the unwashed people there tasted worse than the place smelled and that was saying something. Plus Sabo had pointed out to him that you shouldn't put things in your mouth if you didn't know where they'd been. He figured it was a good enough point and decided not to bite unless he really had to.

His fingers reached out to brush the wound, waiting for the sting of pain and trying to decide if he should bandage it, only to have his fingers meet cloth. Carefully feeling around he realized it felt as it someone had already bandaged him. Frowning he slammed out of their room, shoving the waking bandits out of his way and kicking Magra out of the bathroom mid-bath so he could see in their only mirror.

He was surprised to see that not only was his shoulder bandaged, and rather neatly too, but all his other wounds had been treated as well. Confused he traced the white fabric trying to figure out who the hell could've done such a thing. His mind went first to Dadan, but he immediately dismissed the thought. The old hag hadn't bothered tending to his injuries since he was five years old, and had lashed out when she'd been tending his scrapes.

He'd been angry and had told her she sucked at it, and she'd told him he could bandage his own wounds then, especially since he'd been picking fights to get them, and that was that. She hadn't bothered to help him since, which was just fine with him. He didn't need her help.

Still that left him with only one option because if Dadan wouldn't help him then none of the other bandits would've either. That left the girl. He tried to reject the idea, but it was literally his only option. But why?

Why the hell had she decided after she woke up to bandage him up? Especially since she was the reason he had wounds in the first place. He could only think of one answer and it brought an angry sneer to his face. If she thought it was going to stop him from trying to beat answers out of her she was dead wrong. He wasn't going to stop just because she'd shown him a little smidgen of kindness, he wanted, no he _needed_ to know what she'd meant when she'd said people were going to hate her for existing.

That in mind he stormed out of the bathroom, throwing the door open and smacking Dogra in the face with it, sending the small man flying. A quick survey of the hut made him realize that the wuss wasn't there. Frustration mounting he was forced to ask one of the wary bandits where she was, and he snarled furiously as the man admitted he didn't know, he only knew she'd left earlier that morning.

Going out Ace did a quick sweep around the area hoping she was nearby, but she was nowhere to be found. The wuss had run away! And from his previous knowledge he realized he had no way of finding her because no one knew where she went during the day. Sure she said she was going to try to find her way home to Fuusha, but Ace sure as hell didn't know where that was. He'd never even heard of it before.

He thought about asking the bandits for directions but eventually decided against it. It would be a waste of his time and energy, the wimp had to come back to the mountain bandit's shack to eat and sleep that night anyway, he'd fight her then. In the mean time he was going to head for the Grey Terminal the way he always did to meet up with Sabo and share what he'd learned.

He was kind of hoping his blond friend might have more insight, and he knew he'd be just as outraged and shocked that the stupid weakling of a girl had managed to follow him all the way there without either of them noticing. Which made him wonder if she knew about Sabo, she hadn't mentioned him, but that didn't mean she didn't.

His grip tightened on his pipe as he scowled wrathfully. It was just one more question whose answer he was going to have to beat out of her. In the mean time hopefully he'd find a good fight, either with the forest animals or in the Gray Terminal to work off some of his frustrations. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

...~oO*Oo~...

When Ruby had returned that first night after trying to find her way to Fuusha and thus to Makino she'd noted that Ace wasn't around, and had breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't been so sure she'd wanted to face him after realizing what she had that morning. Relieved she'd stuffed herself on the meat Dadan had cooked for her, and gone towards their shared room hoping to be asleep before Ace made it back, only to be attacked the minute she'd stepped over the threshold.

Once more they'd duked it out, though she'd tried to demand answers as to why he was attacking her Ace had said nothing, and any talk between them quickly devolved to insults and animal growling noises and snarls. However just like the first night they'd proven fairly equal, and had fallen asleep on top of each other again.

The next morning she'd once again woken first, squirmed out of Ace's hold, and had her conscience guilt her into bandaging his wounds and covering him back up before setting out to attempt to find Fuusha. Unfortunately it seemed that until Ace got what he wanted he was going to keep attacking her because every single night when she came home he was waiting for her, metal pipe in hand, and every single night they'd fight to a draw, and the next morning she'd wake first, bandage them both and leave.

It was a routine of sorts, one she wasn't sure how to break other than to beat Ace in their fight and demand some answers. To that end she tried to train as she searched for Fuusha to improve herself, but he seemed to be training to because no matter what she did they came up dead even. She was more than a bit frustrated with him, and more than once she'd considered kicking him awake in the morning and demanding answers, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it, to hurt the child without provocation.

Luckily six days after the attacks began she had a break in the routine because she finally, _finally_ stumbled her way into Fuusha and into Makino's worried arms.

Makino had been just as anxious about her as she'd suspected. Her poor caretaker had been frantic when Garp came down the mountain without her, but there hadn't been anything she could do. She wasn't near strong enough to go roaming around Mt. Corvo by herself in an attempt to find her wayward charge, not with the wild animals around, and she'd have had no idea where to even start looking for her even if she was.

Makino told her that Garp had assured her that Ruby was safe where he left her, but her caretaker knew her Gramps well enough to know that 'safe' by his definition was extremely different than a normal persons. She'd been trying desperately to think of a way to get a hold of Shanks to start a search party for her charge when Ruby had come stumbling into the village, a little worse for wear from the trek but otherwise alright.

Her green haired mother figure had insisted that Ruby stay the night, and since Shanks and the Red Haired pirates were due the next day she figured it couldn't hurt anything. Dadan might worry a bit, but she was sure the mountain bandit would be fine. Plus she'd missed Makino desperately, it had been hard being taken away from the woman she hadn't seen since Garp had snatched her away to the nearest naval base back in the Before at this time in her life. Unfortunately as busy as she'd been she'd never been able to go back and see her caretaker in that life before she was executed, and it was something she'd always regretted.

Thus she'd settled in happily. Her old room was just how she'd left it, Makino hadn't done anything other than clean the entire time she'd been gone, so all her things were there and she had more than enough to last her through whatever training she was going to be doing with the Red Hair pirates.

The next day both she and Makino had waited in the bar, as she helped out with all her old chores, for whoever was coming, chatting and getting caught up with everything that had happened since they'd last seen one another. Ruby told the kindly woman everything, holding nothing back except for the realization that Ace was Roger's son, she kept that to herself for reasons she couldn't quite put into words it felt like it would be a betrayal of Ace's trust to tell anyone, even if he didn't know she knew and didn't actually trust her at all.

At around noon her Observation Haki, which was coming along at a decent rate managed to pick up a familiar presence. She immediately stopped what she was doing, dropping her mop to the floor in her haste and hurrying towards the door, getting there just in time to throw herself into the arms of the pirate who'd come to see her. It wasn't Shanks, but she had figured it probably wouldn't be this first time, but it certainly was the next best thing, after all it didn't get much better than Benn Beckman.

...~oO*Oo~...

Benn grinned around his cigarette in amusement as Ruby stared down at the stick in her hands a baffled look on her face. He'd been worried she'd be a bit disappointed that Shanks couldn't come personally, hell Shanks was disappointed he couldn't come personally, but they'd been under too much observation for their captain to be able to leave for any period of time let alone the two weeks he was going to stay.

He got the feeling that Garp was the cause for their new increased surveillance, and honestly he wasn't surprised at all. The elder Monkey probably hadn't been too happy when he realized that pirates had 'corrupted' Ru-chan. Luckily Ruby was extremely understanding, and seemed eager for training.

She'd been pestering him with questions about Haki, but that wasn't what he'd decided to teach her, instead deciding to focus on something near and dear to his heart, which led them to where they were now.

"Um, what am I doing with a stick?" Ruby asked plainly confused.

"You're going to fight with it," Benn told her, holding his amusement in at her dubious expression, honestly he knew why his captain liked teasing the little girl so much, she had the most expressive face and her expressions were utterly adorable.

"I'm going to fight... with a stick?" Ruby repeated face twisted into a moue of disbelief.

"Not a stick, a pole arm," Benn relented with a grin, "the stick is just a beginners tool until you can work up to something like my rifle."

"Um Benn, aren't you supposed to shoot people with rifles?" Ruby asked with a frown, "I mean I didn't think you were supposed to hit people with them."

"Traditionally you're not," he admitted amused, "But rifles only hold one maybe two shots at most, and in the middle of a battle isn't a good time to have to reload your weapon, especially if your enemy is close, he could be on you before you have a chance to fight back, and so I use my rifle as both a long distance and a close combat weapon all in one."

"However I don't think that's really suited to your style. Honestly I'm pretty sure you're more of a hand to hand kind of fighter like your Gramps and that's absolutely where you'll be your best, but it never hurts to be diverse, sometimes it's a really good idea to know how to use a weapon in case it isn't safe to close in with hand to hand," he explained to his attentive audience.

"Which is why I'm going to teach you how to properly use a pole arm, since they're relatively cheap and easy to find, like that stick, or a piece of pipe or something they're not hard to come by," he explained, and he could see something he'd said had really caught her attention so he nodded and moved on, "Now, let's get you started with a basic stance."

If he was honest with himself he was more than a little shocked how quickly a dedicated Ruby picked things up. He quickly found that she learned best in scenarios like the one Shanks had made her face to get control of her Conqueror's Haki, where it was do or die, and definitely picked up more when she was actually fighting than when she was drilling things like stances, strikes and blocks.

Which was why they spent most of their time doing just that, sparring and fighting. Not just him but the nearby forest predators as well. They were good for her because they forced her to mix up her fighting style a bit more. Poor Ruby fell into bed each night covered in bruises, and a part of him felt bad for it, especially with the dirty looks Makino would shoot him, but Ruby was adamant about doing it that way and she was learning phenomenally quickly.

By the end of their short two weeks she'd picked up most of the basics and would be more than able to keep practicing on her own, wielding the sturdy metal pipe he'd gotten her after she kept breaking every stick she got her hands on, putting too much strength behind her strikes and ending up weaponless. More than once she'd had to run from a predator she'd previously been fighting because her weapon broke mid battle. 

It was actually rather amusing to see her running around the forest hunting for the right kind of stick, cursing up a storm at him while trying not to get eaten. He could see why his captain had favored the method, even if it was rather cruel.

Honestly Benn had been a little worried about Ruby learning everything she'd need to know to thrive on the Sea when the World might literally be against her someday, but she was picking things up so quickly he was starting to think Shanks was right, that she'd be pirate King much sooner than he thought.

He was just glad he'd been able to help the girl a bit. He wasn't as close to her as the captain, but he did adore the little girl, with her large beaming smile and never say die attitude. He'd felt sick when he and the others had overheard what she was telling Shanks about the world wanting her dead, and even more sick at the idea that a child should get used to the world hating her for existing. Which was why he made sure to have some fun with her too, giving in and teasing her a bit the way Shanks did when he was here, and forcing her to rest and not train the entire time he was there.

He just hoped she took their lessons about living as seriously as she did the lessons about fighting because he'd hate to see her lose her smile. Unfortunately his time was up, sooner than he would've liked and he needed to be getting back to the Red Force before anyone could notice he was missing. Turning to glance back over at the little girl and the bartender standing on the docks, he gave them one last wave, before aiming his skiff back towards the Grand Line where the crew was waiting for him, ready to report Ruby's progress to his captain.

...~oO*Oo~...

Makino had wanted Ruby to stay for one more night after Benn left, but Ruby thought she probably should be getting back. After all the bandits were probably more than a little worried by now that she'd died or something, and she felt kind of bad for causing Dadan that much stress, knowing the woman was terrified something would happen to her because if something did her Gramps would be after her hide.

Her caretaker hadn't been happy, especially since she knew Ruby was still tired from her training with Benn, but had relented when she'd promised to come back and visit weekly to check in so Makino would know she was alright. She'd given the kind woman one last warm hug before heading back into the forests and trekking back up Mt. Corvo feeling rather accomplished.

It had been a good couple weeks, and she could feel herself getting stronger. Benn had turned out to be as hard a taskmaster as Shanks, and just as sadistic in his training ideas, which had obviously been influenced by his captain. Still she felt like she'd made more progress working with him in those two short weeks than she had the entire month or so she'd been on her own on Mt. Corvo.

Humming happily to herself she made her way back to the bandits house. She got a little turned around once or twice, but for the most part she made it there without issue, and before dark even. Feeling more than a little proud of herself, she was just about to hunt down Dadan to inform her of her return, when her observation Haki warned her about an incoming strike.

She only just managed to get her pipe up in time to block, and found herself deadlocked and staring into burning silver-grey eyes. In all the excitement of finding Fuusha, seeing Makino and training with Benn she'd completely forgotten about Ace.

...~oO*Oo~...

The first night when she didn't appear Ace figured she'd finally gotten smart and had decided to sleep somewhere else. He'd been extremely unhappy to say the least, furious that she was hiding like that from him like a coward. He'd broken several nearby trees that night in his anger, with the bandits watching on with shocked eyes.

It took him a while, but eventually he realized she'd have to come back for food eventually because she didn't seem capable of cooking herself. Thus he'd just have to stake out Dadan's for a bit. He'd told Sabo, who'd warned him he was becoming more than a bit obsessed, but agreed it was fine, and proceeded to stake out the house. 

Unfortunately she didn't turn up that day, or the next, or the next. Annoyed and frustrated he'd gone to Dadan who'd admitted, rather worriedly, that she hadn't actually seen Ruby for days. Ace had then proceeded to spend several days tearing up the forest looking for her to no avail. Eventually he'd given up and gone back to treasure gathering with Sabo, ranting bitterly to his friend about the cowardly wuss.

Eventually Sabo had remembered that she'd said something about going to see her pirate friends on the DenDen Mushi call that had started all this. His blond friend had reasonably pointed out that it was very possible she'd decided she didn't like staying at the bandit's place and had decided to run away with her pirate friends.

Ace had nearly torn his hair out with frustration when he realized that if she'd done that, he'd likely never get answers unless they somehow met again someday after they went to sea. Sabo had tried to comfort him, but his friend hadn't understood, not really.

Actually Ace himself wasn't sure he quite understood why he wanted answers from her so badly. He just knew that something about the way she'd spoken had struck a chord in him, he wanted to understand her. He didn't like mysteries, not like Sabo, and he wanted answers damnit!

Which was why when he first saw the small figure in the pink dress making her way towards the bandit's home he'd attacked determined to get answers once and for all including answers about where she'd been, since she hadn't been home to eat or sleep.

He'd been a little surprised to have his pipe countered with a pipe of her own, and a little annoyed too at the idea of her copying him. He expected to have a tougher fight than ever with her having a weapon of her own, and he was right. She was just as vicious as he remembered, and before he knew it they were rolling around the clearing, kicking, clawing, punching and biting, but she seemed to be getting weaker, and then all of a sudden she was passed out, completely unconscious with Ace standing over her triumphant.

For long minutes he just stared at her completely and utterly baffled. Yes he'd gone in wanting to win, but in the back of his mind he'd been resigned to tying with her again the way they always had before. He'd never actually expected to win, because this was the wuss and she lived to thwart him.

He took a moment to relish his victory. He'd done it. Finally, finally _finally_ he'd done it and maybe now he could get some answers. His moment was extremely short though when he realized that, since she couldn't exactly answer questions or even talk at all because she was knocked out.

It was like the stupid little girl lived to thwart his every plan. Annoyed he grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder, he wasn't about to let her out of his sight until he got the answers he'd earned. She was lighter than he expected her to be, and for a moment he wondered if her pirate friends hadn't made sure she was eating properly. 

He scoffed immediately and pushed the thought out of his mind, stomping into the shack. The handful of bandits in the room glanced up at his arrival, and their eyes widened in shock at the sight of the girl over his shoulder. He could tell they were curious, but under his glare they didn't dare to ask. The only ones who probably would've were Dogra, Magra, and Dadan herself, none of whom were present at the moment.

Making his way to their shared room with his burden he dropped her on to one of the blankets and settled in next to her to wait, deciding to keep vigil and pounce the minute she woke, while she was weak. Unfortunately five minutes in he started to get bored and before he knew it he dozed off himself.

When he woke he immediately began to curse himself, calling himself all kinds of idiot for falling asleep and missing his chance. No doubt she was already gone, and who knew when he'd see her again. Furious he went to get up only to realize something was off.

Something warm was nestled into his chest. Glancing down he was met with a small head of dark hair, only the straw hat with its bright red ribbon, which always managed to remain in good condition no matter how hard they fought, allowed him to identify the head. Shocked and confused he held still for a second, cataloguing the fact that his arms were around her, and they were thoroughly entwined.

He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks in horror and embarrassment, and he shoved her forcefully away, or at least he tried to. Unfortunately she was latched on to him tighter than the nobles of Goa held on to their wallets. Struggling ineffectively against her grip he had to grudgingly admit she was stronger than she looked.

A soft whining noise left her and he immediately stilled, trying to decide which was the better option, have her wake and discover them like this, live with the embarrassment, and finally get free, or have her go back to sleep, and try once more to escape with pride and dignity intact. The choice was taken out of his hands as the small head rose from where it had been resting on his chest, and the wuss looked at him, her brown eyes blinking blearily at him.

He waited for her to notice her position and get the hell off, but she just let out a large yawn and plopped right back down on to his chest, nuzzling her face into him and dropping back to sleep. Ace was pretty sure his face was on fire and embarrassment warred with annoyance that she was cuddling him like some kind of pillow or toy.

He wriggled again furiously, but was unsuccessful escaping her grasp, which only tightened the harder he struggled. Eventually he gave it up and caved pride smarting, "Oy wuss get up!"

"Get up you stupid girl! Wake up and get off of me!" he told her voice getting louder and louder with every word when it looked like she wasn't going to respond.

Her head rose again, and she stared down at him, small nose scrunched in confusion and lips drawn into an unhappy pout, "What is it?"

Her words were so muzzy with sleep it took him a second to decipher, but when he did he scowled furiously at her, "Get off me crybaby!"

She blinked at him looking extremely confused, and he wondered if anything was penetrating her sleep addled mind and waited for her to be just as horrified and embarrassed by the situation as he was, vengefully hoping she freaked out a bit. 

"Don't wanna," she whined releasing one arm to rub at her eyes tiredly with on of her fists still pouting. 

Ace was shocked enough by the admission that he almost missed his opportunity, but then he realized she'd let go and quickly scrambled out from under her, shoving her forcefully away. She let out an unhappy whine as she was forced to roll over but settled back in fairly quickly. 

He was more than ready to get his answers, scowling blackly at her back ready to demand them, when the sound of soft snores filled the room, and he realized she'd gone back to sleep again. He snarled in complete and utter frustration marching over to her prone form, ready to kick her awake if he had to.

Glancing down as he prepared to strike he realized outside of fights he'd never actually seen her this close before. She really was tiny, especially compared to him. Which was surprising considering when they fought he'd never thought of them as anything less than equals when it came to height but in reality she only came up to his chest and she'd weighed hardly anything when he carried her. Again the fleeting thought, that she might not have been eating enough while she was gone crossed his mind. Looking her over he didn't think she looked underfed, but then what would he know? At his closer inspection though he noticed something disturbing. Crawling closer he carefully lifted one of her legs look over what had caught his eye.

There were bruises, striped all the way up her shins, bruises that looked like they'd come from a pipe, or something similar at least, and he would know. He and Sabo sparred often enough with their own pipes that he could recognize the bruises on sight. However that she had bruises like this was completely and utterly baffling because while he had managed a glancing blow or two with his pipe before they'd disarmed one another they had been just that, glancing. None of his hits had connected to her legs either, so it made absolutely no sense for her to have them.

Not only that, but they didn't look fresh, but like they'd come over the course of days maybe even weeks, all in different states of healing. He recognized the look of them from some of the tougher fights he'd had in the Gray Terminal. Taking a closer look at her he realized that her legs weren't the only place she was injured. She had bruises all over, some of which had come from him, but the majority of which had to have come from somewhere else.

A strange feeling came over him as he stared at the injuries he knew he hadn't given her, it bubbled oddly in the pit of his stomach and his entire body was hot, and he really wanted to hit something. No, what he wanted to hit was those stupid pirates, the ones she'd been going to meet up with because obviously if her wounds hadn't come from him they must've come from those people, those people who were supposed to be her friends.

He didn't like this feeling, he didn't like it at all.

...~oO*Oo~...

Ruby woke feeling rather odd, sitting up she winced at the stiffness in her limbs, and glanced around. She was back in her room at the bandit's place, she recognized it. With a frown she recalled how Ace had attacked her last night, he must've won, and she vaguely remembered him saying something to her last night but it was a little hazy.

Frowning she checked the room again noticing that Ace was conspicuous only in his absence. She'd thought for sure he'd be here when she woke up, either to gloat or to get whatever he wanted that had led to him attacking her in the first place. Confused she pushed herself to her feet, surprised to see a blanket fall from her shoulders.

Glancing down at it she noted her legs, where some of the worst welts and bruises from her pole arm training from Benn were she paused, and blinked. She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes trying to figure out what the hell she was seeing, and if she was imagining things but when she opened her eyes they were still there.

Bandages were wrapped around her legs, a bit sloppily but obviously done with care. Shocked she carefully made her way out of the room, ignoring the surprised looks from the bandits and quickly locked herself in the bathroom, stripping out of her dress she walked over to the mirror and stared. Every injury had been clumsily bandaged.

Her heart wrenched in her chest as she recalled the blanket that had been draped over her shoulders and realized there was only one person who could've done it. The bandits knew she was more than capable of bandaging herself, and wouldn't have helped her, or even probably known about her injuries, which just left Ace.

Angry, hurting, hating little Ace had bandaged all her injuries and tucked her in the same way she'd done for him. Warmth curled in her stomach and spread out to her limbs and she hugged herself, relishing the feeling. Ace had taken care of her, he had, for the first time ever done something nice for her.

The warm feeling faded though as she realized that she had absolutely no clue why he'd done it. Why had he helped her? They'd been fighting for reasons she still didn't know or understand, and she'd thought for sure he hated her, despite what Benn and Shanks had said about him not being able to hate her without knowing her.

She just didn't understand what was going on in his head, and desperately wished that the did, because she wanted to understand him, she wanted to know who Portgas D. Ace was. She wanted to be his friend. Unfortunately she understood she wasn't the most trusting person, not anymore and she didn't think Ace would be either.

Frowning she realized that as much as she hated it she really needed to sit and think. It was a technique they'd forced on her in the marines called meditation and introspection. She was pretty sure Sengoku had ordered it in the hopes that it would make her less headstrong and wild, it hadn't helped that at all, but if she was remembering right, it had helped to make thinking less painful eventually.

Nodding to herself she went back to the room she shared with Ace, and grabbed the pipe sitting against the wall, noting with another painful heart throb that Ace must've grabbed it for her, and heading out the door, ignoring the bandits who called out to her in concern. She had thinking to do.

...~oO*Oo~...

Unfortunately her thinking hadn't given her any answers to her questions about what was going on in Ace's head. Which meant, once again the only way she was going to get the answers she wanted was from Ace himself. However she wasn't really in any sort of condition to be fighting him again. She still wasn't recovered from Benn's training and the fight yesterday. She was still determined to try though, she'd faced tougher odds before.

It was fairly late, so she was pretty sure Ace would be waiting to ambush her just as soon as she stepped in the door to their shared room. Sure enough when she reached the bandit's shack she could feel his presence inside with her Observation Haki. Carefully she opened the door pipe at the ready only for nothing to happen.

Glancing around she stared in surprise as she realized Ace was laying down, head on his pillow and blanket wrapped tightly around his shoulders, his back to the door. She knew he wasn't sleeping because Ace always snored a bit when he slept, but it was pretty obvious he wasn't intending to fight her any time soon.

"Um Ace?" she asked puzzled, clutching her pipe carefully in her hands, still at the ready, "Aren't we going to fight?"

Ace ignored her, with only the soft rustling of blankets and the stiffness in his posture to let her know he'd heard what she said.

"I know you're not sleeping!" she protested feeling a bit annoyed, "Don't ignore me! Aren't we fighting today?"

Ace pushed himself up and glared at her fiercely before uttering a single cold, "No." before settling back down again.

Ruby nearly fell over in shock, it was the first word he'd said to her that wasn't an insult, then she processed what he'd said and pouted unhappily confused and concerned, "But why?"

"I don't need to fight weaklings!" Ace snarled at her not even bothering to turn and look at her, clutching the blanket tightly around himself, "Especially not injured crybaby weaklings, if I'm going to beat answers out of you, it's going to be when you're actually strong enough to fight back so you don't whine like a little girl about it being unfair."

Ruby blinked, part of her wanted to get fired up and insulted over the insult to her gender, but the bigger part had put together that Ace didn't want to fight her while she was injured. She hadn't realized he had that kind of honor.

Watching his stiff back she carefully set her pipe down and tried to think again. Meditating earlier had helped a bit when it came to thinking, but only a bit. She really did want to be Ace's friend, she just wasn't sure how to do that. Giving up thinking and acting on instinct, she crawled over to the wrapped up Ace, who was laying on his back with his face turned away and his eyes determinedly shut, and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What?!" Ace growled, scowling ferociously at her, his eyes having popped up the second he felt her touch him.

"I'm cold," she informed him, it was the only thing she could think of to say, and ignoring his frown she carefully plopped herself down on top of him.

"What the hell?!" he demanded stiff as a board beneath her, "What do you think you're doing?"

Ruby lifted her head and pouted at him, staring up at him with pleading eyes and using the expression that always made Gramps give her what she wanted.

It didn't seem to work on Ace, and he pushed her off. She expected him to get up move as far from her as possible the way he had on her first nights here, but instead he simply turned his back, and after a few hesitant seconds lifted the blanket for her grumbling unhappily under his breath about weaklings and stupid girls.

She was too thrilled with her progress to care though and happily snuggled up to him, refraining from hugging him, feeling that would probably be a line he wasn't willing to cross yet, and happily settling in to doze.

Surprisingly warm and comfortable sleep came quickly, and when she woke she felt more rested than she had in a long time. Glancing down she realized that at some point during the night Ace had turned back towards her and he had his arms around her, his head resting in the crook of her neck, and her own arms wrapped around his back.

Normally she would wriggle away from him, but this time she couldn't bring herself to move just yet. She was warm and comfortable, and feeling more than a little bit affectionate towards the child who was latched comfortably on to her, and that's all he was right now, a child, an innocent, and surprisingly sweet child.

Experimentally she lifted a hand and carded it through his thick, dark hair the way she'd done for some of the children she'd comforted over the years, during her time as a marine. Ace slept on peacefully, and she allowed herself to enjoy the cuddles. She was a rather physically affectionate person with the people she cared for, and she was starting to care deeply for Ace.

It was funny because she hadn't really thought of it until that moment, but there was no one in the world who could understand the situation she was in better than the child sleeping cuddled up next to her. After all who else had an infamous father who was feared and hated by the World? Who else would be persecuted just for daring to exist?

No one, no one except Gol D. Ace, who had shared her fate at the top of the executioner's platform in Marineford. Her grip tightened on him unconsciously as she remembered that if something didn't happen to change things, then in a decade or so Ace would be sitting up on that platform again.

The idea of him, this innocent hurting child crying on the platform was like a punch in the gut. It knocked the air from her lungs and made her eyes water and her lips tremble. She rejected the idea furiously. It wouldn't happen, it couldn't happen. It had been bad enough the first time when Portgas D. Ace was just a name, a stranger with the misfortune of being Gol D. Roger's son.

But now he was more than a name, he was this child, this child who lashed out at everyone, afraid to make connections for fear of later being rejected for having his father's blood, this child who had obviously born the World's hatred, who hated himself, but still had moments of honor and sweetness, this child who slept trustingly in her presence who cuddled up to her when he slept. She couldn't bear the idea of something happening to this child.

Last time she'd stood aside, and done nothing as this child cried and begged for death as the people he loved were cut down in vain. She hadn't done anything as people were massacred because one man had the blood of the feared Pirate King in his veins. She hadn't given a word of protest despite the fact that the official reason given for Portgas D. Ace's execution was no good reason at all.

Back then she told herself that it was okay, because he was a pirate, and he'd obviously committed other crimes, crimes that were worthy of the execution, but even back then her reasoning had felt flimsy at best, not it was nonexistent. Ace didn't deserve what he had been given. He didn't deserve to die after suffering the torture of having the people he loved cut down in front of his eyes for his sake.

It couldn't happen again. She refused to let it. She wouldn't let anyone take his life, not for such a stupid petty reason. Someway, somehow she was going to protect him, even if it cost her, her life this time he would live, there would be no other way.

When Ace woke sometime later he immediately scrambled away from her, snarling angrily at her about cuddling him against his will. She'd tried pointing out that obviously he was the one who'd turned over in his sleep, as she was still facing the same direction as she had been. He'd sputtered and then cursed her out furiously, stomping from the room, pausing only to grab his pipe, his face redder than a tomato.

She watched him go giggling to herself. When he wasn't attacking her for now reason or lashing out he was a cute little kid, all embarrassed and prickly and adorable. He was the kind of kid she would've teased and doted on mercilessly when she was an adult in the Navy.

Now though she was just a kid, same as him, younger than him actually. Which meant she couldn't act like that. Ace would never accept being treated as anything less than an equal by a fellow child, which meant she had to do what Shanks had suggested, the problem was she had no clue how to go about doing that.

Humming thoughtfully to herself she grabbed her own pipe and headed out, ignoring Dadan who was trying to demand to know where she'd been and where she'd thought she was going, doing her best to brainstorm, despite the pain. One way or another in order to save him Portgas D. Ace was going to have to become her friend.

Her fists clenched on her pipe in determination. She would do it. She would befriend him, and then she would save him. She'd do whatever it took.

...~oO*Oo~...

"So little anchor is doing okay?" Shanks asked eagerly.

Benn nodded. He'd just finished up his report to his captain, who'd finally stopped sulking about not being able to go himself. According to Yasopp and Roo he'd sulked and hadn't thrown a single party the entire time he was gone.

Honestly he wasn't surprised. He knew how much Ruby meant to Shanks, and he knew the redhead had to be missing Makino as well. He'd never seen his captain as smitten as he'd been with the sweet green haired bartender. Honestly he thought it was hilarious and was manly enough to admit he thought it was sweet as well. The two of them were good together, Makino's levelheadedness balancing out Shanks' rambunctious impulsiveness well.

"She seemed to be doing well, she told me a bit about the kid you told her to befriend. Honestly sounds like he's had a rough time of it, and he had an interesting name too," Benn informed his captain when he saw the redhead was staring eagerly at him, obviously awaiting further details, looking a bit like a dog waiting for a treat.

"Oh?" Shanks asked curiously.

"Yeah his name is Portgas D. Ace, who knew another D. would be so close to little Ruby huh?" Benn asked casually lighting a cigarette and putting it between his lips, only to have it knocked from his mouth a second later when Shanks gripped him by the arms.

"What did you say his name was?" his captain demanded, eager aura gone now, his face dead serious.

"Portgas D. Ace," Benn repeated frowning, "Why Shanks? You know the kid?"

"No, no not the kid," he admitted looking a little dazed, "But I sure as hell knew his parents."

"Really?" Yasopp asked intrigued, "Were they people you liked?"

"Liked? Yeah you could say that," Shanks confirmed letting go of Benn to stare off into the distance, "Portgas D. Rouge was one of the sweetest women I ever had the pleasure to meet."

"Oh? Were you sweet on her?" Roo prompted curiously.

Shanks snorted, "Maybe, I think everyone in the crew was a little sweet on miss Rouge, but none more so than the captain."

"The captain? You don't mean...?" Yasopp asked quietly.

"Yeah, looks like the Captain Roger's kid survived after all," Shanks noted a bit shakily.

Benn stared anxiously at his captain, concerned for the man. Luckily, like always Shanks bounced back quickly, "Men! We need to have a party!"

"A party?" Roo asked with a frown.

"To celebrate! Tonight we drink to my former captain and his fair lover Rouge may their memory always live on!" Shanks shouted to the crew, who cheered in agreement, hurrying around the deck to get everything prepared for a good party.

Benn watched concerned but, noting the genuine happiness on Shanks' face decided everything was alright. Still next time he went to Dawn island he would have to make it a point to meet Portgas D. Ace. It just figured that Ruby would get shipped off into the middle of nowhere and find the long lost son of the pirate King. The kid had the strangest luck sometimes.

Back on Dawn Island Ruby sneezed and cursed as it alerted the ferocious looking tiger to her presence. Not sure why exactly she immediately began to curse Benn Beckman as she fought for her life and her dinner, sure that somehow this was entirely his fault.

Not too far away in the Gray Terminal Ace sneezed and scowled as his target realized he was there and scurried away sending him suspicious looks and hovering near the city guard, pointing at him, obviously hoping to get him arrested. He cursed under his breath darting away with the strange feeling that this was all that stupid wussy girl's fault. He could feel a flush creeping over his face at the thought of her, and how he'd woken cuddled up to her, _never again_ he vowed angrily to himself. He wasn't going to let her do that to him ever again! Especially not since he got the feeling she'd been laughing at him as he'd practically hightailed it out the door. Sabo had certainly laughed when he told his blond friend what had happened. Which reminded him, they hadn't had their daily spar and his fellow thief was due an ass kicking, and Ace was in just the mood to give it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this probably isn't what you were expecting to be updated, but it was what I felt inspired to write, so I hope no one minds! I promise it'll be something different next Sunday! Also I apologize for the late update! I had a busy weekend and didn't finish in time!


End file.
